mountain

moving faith:

FORGIVES
(Part IV of the series:

MARK 11:22-26
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith In God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto
this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the
sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that
those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have
them.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught
against any:
that your Father also which is in heaven may
forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which
is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

In this series of lessons, we are studying the

seven most important things you should know
about faith.
Before we begin the study in
this lesson of the fourth point, I will review
the first three.
1) This faithmountain moving faithis
the God kind of faith and every believer has a
measure of it.
2) The believer can increase his faith by
(a) feeding on the Word of God, and (b) ex
ercising his faith, putting it into action.
3) Faith is of the heart and not the head.
On this point we want to remember this very
significant fact: Faith will work in your heart
with doubt in your head.
And now we'll get down to the fourth point
which is:
Faith will not work when there is
an "unforgiveness" about you.
Notice that Jesus said, "And when ye stand
praying, forgive...." He made those marvelous
statements which are thrilling, amazing, and
astounding: first, "That whosoever shall say...
and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe
that those things which he saith shall come
to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith"
(Verse 23), and then, "What things soever ye
desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive
them, and ye shall have them" (Verse 24).
(47L-1)

-by

KENNETH HAGIN

The Most Important Things

You Should Know About Faith)

And those are marvelous statements, aren't

they. No one has ever yet plumbed the depth
of those statements. But yet, at the same time,
at the same scene, and with the same breath
Jesua said, "And when ye stand praying, for
g i v e . . . . " (Verse 25).
If there is a spirit, or an air of "unforgiveness" about you, then your faith won't work.
Your prayers won't work. Of all the statements
Jesus made about faith (and you can read them
in the four Gospels) this is the only hindrance
He ever mentioned. So therefore this one must
be of primary importance.
I
always tell
people that if my prayers and my faith didn't
work, this would be the first place I'd look.
But I just never will permit anything into my
mind at all about anyone. I refuse to think
anything evil or resentful about anyone. No
matter what they do to me or what they say
about me, I won't permit it to affect me. I
simply won't permit that.
About three months after I had begun to pastor
my first Full Gospel church, a lady in the con
gregation came by the parsonage one day and
after visiting a while she said she had a question
she'd like to ask.
" I know you've only been here a short while,"
she began. "But you've been here long enough^
to find out some things, and I think you'll
agree with what I'm about to say concerning
my mother.
My mother and her sister and
some of the other members of her family have
been in this church for 23 years. Now I'm
sure you'll agree that there's not any more
faithful Christians than Mama and some of the
rest of her family. They never miss a service.
You've seen how faithful they've been these four
months and they've been just that consistent
over a 23 year period. They never fail to tithe
and support the church."
I agreed with what she said. And then too,
her mother was a very spiritual woman. Various
gifts of the Spirit were in manifestation in
her life at times. I pastored nearly 12 years

and have been in the ministry 40 years, and to

be perfectly honest with you in many ways
I still consider this woman's mother to be one of
the most spiritual, most gifted persons I ever
pastored. I believe I saw more manifestations
of the Spirit in her life than in most people
I've met, including about 8 out of 10 preachers.
She was a very dedicated, consecrated, separated
woman unto God.
"Now," she continued, "you don't know anyone
in my husband's family besides him. His mother
went home to be with Jesus and some of the
rest of the family moved away before you
came here.
But my husband's family (the
" M " family) has been in this church too over a
period of 23 years."
She went on to tell how her family, the "H"
family, was faithful, dedicated, consecrated and
separated. And that her husband's family, the
" M " family were good people, saved and filled
with the Spirit, all right, but they were the most
unfaithful people you'd ever seen. You couldn't
depend on them for anything when it came to
church work. They might not even show up for
a service in three or four weeks. And when they
did come they didn't give anything to support
the church. You just couldn't depend on them.
About the time you thought they were going to
get in and really go all out, then they would get
out and wouldn't come for a while. And then
about the time you thought they would never be
back, here they'd come.
"Now, I'm getting to my question," she said.
"In this 23 year period if anybody in our family
ever got healed, I don't know it. W e ' r e the ones
who always wind up going to the hospital,
being operated on, or dying. But now in this
' M ' family, over the same 23 year period if
any one of them ever failed to get healed I don't
know it.
Now can you explain that to me?"
Well, I first told her that I wouldn't know
specifically why one person gets healed and an
other one doesn't unless God revealed it to
me.
And that He hadn't revealed it to me.
Now let me give you a little side thought on
that. Once when the Lord appeared to me in a
vision,
I asked Him about a loved one of
mine who failed to receive healing and had to
have a very serious operation. The Lord had
appeared to me to talk with me about something
else and then I asked Him why this loved one
(I'd prayed so earnestly and used all the faith
I had) had to have this operation. Why didn't
this born again, Spirit-filled, consecrated, de
dicated Christian receive healing?
And in the vision the Lord saidtojne, "That's
between that person and M e . It isn't any of
2

your business." He was just that plain about it.

(You see, we're always trying to tend to some
body else's business.) He said to me, "Didn't
you ever read in my Word that the secret things
belong unto the Lord, but those things which
are revealed belong unto us and to our children
for ever?"
" Y e s , Lord," I said. "That is Deuteronomy
29:29. I've read it."
"All right," He said, "That's a secret be
tween that person and M e . If I'd wanted you to
know I would have told you. If I didn't tell you,
don't even think about it. Don't even touch it in
thought life. But what is revealed to you, you
preach. Go ahead and preach healing just like
you are preaching it. It's right. However, if
people don't get healed, don't even think about
it.
Don't even touch it in thought life. It is
none of your business. You are not healing them
anyway, you're just preaching it." That's what
He told me to do, and that's what I will do.
Now back to this woman's question, I said
to her, "Sister, I wouldn't know specifically
why this ' H ' family never received healing and
the ' M ' family always received healing unless
the Lord revealed it to me. However, without
any specific revelation on it, I do know some
general rules that are laid down in God's Word.
And without knowing your husband's family, I
would say this, that this ' M ' family had two
outstanding characteristics.
First, I would
say that they were quick to repent and to for
give.
And secondly, that they were quick to
believe."
I remember that her eyes got as big as saucers
almost. And she said, "Why, Brother Hagin,
you've hit the nail right on the head."
"No, I didn't hit the nail on the head. The Bible
did. God did in His Word. I got that out of the
Word." ( I got it right out of this portion of the_
Scripture we are using for our text.)
"You know, Brother Hagin," she said, " I
believe they were the quickest people I've ever
seen in my life to forgive. And if they even
thought they had hurt or offended you in any
way, they would repent and ask you to forgive
them, and they thoroughly meant it.
And I
believe they could be out of church the longest,
and then come to church and get in the altar
and repent the fastest, and believe God the
quickest of anyone I've ever seen. And they
could get blessed the most...
"But now, you take Mama and us. It's sure
hard on us to forgive. We wouldn't hardly for
give anybody. That's just sort of our natural
make-up. It's just a natural characteristic with

our whole family. W e ' r e just that way. Oh,

we know we have to forgive eventually because
the Bible says to, but we hold out as lon- as
we can.
"And when it oomes to believing, it's the
hardest thing in the world for us to believe
anything."
Well, she'd answered her own question.
Jesus said, "When you stand praying, for
give."
"Yeah, but I just can't do it. I can't do it,"
some will say.
One lady said to me, "Brother Hagin, I just
wish you'd cast this old unforgiving spirit out
of me.
I've got something against a lady
here at the church and I've tried and tried and
I can't forgive her. I just don't seem to have
the ability to forgive."
"Well," I asked her, "do you ever have to
forgive your husband for anything?"
"Oh, yesf she said, " I have to forgive him
and he has to forgive me."
"You can forgive your husband then?"
"Yes."
"Well, I thought you couldn't forgive."
Then she laughed and said, "You know I
can, can't I?"
"Certainly, if you can forgive one person,
you can forgive another."
She saw it and said, " I can. I do. That's it."
And it is just that simple. We complicate
matters a lot of times, friends. Jesus said,
"When ye stand praying, forgive." So therefore
that
means that we can forgive. He didn't
ask us to do something we can't do, did He?
No. If He asked us to do something we couldn't
do. He would be unjust.
You see, a lot of times people just don't want
to go to the trouble to do something. They
want somebody else to get it for them, or do
it for them, when it's their responsibility.
A minister's wife said to me, "Brother Hagin,
since hearing you preach and teach I'm confused.
You've gotten me all confused."
But I hadn't gotten her confused. She was
confused before I came there. The light of
God's Word just showed it up. You know you
can take a flashlight and go into a basement
or attic which has been closed up with junk
accumulated in it, and there will be dust and
dirt and junk there. But you don't say, "My
look what that flashlight has done." No, it was
there all the time. The flashlight didn't do it.
It was there before the flashlight got there.
She was confused before I got there and the
light of God's Word just showed it up.
"I'm just in an awful shape," she said. " I

can't forgive my mother-in-law. I just hate her."

(You know that's an old proverbial question,
that mother-in-law question.)
She said, "You used that Scripture, 'Whoso
ever hateth his brother is a murderer: and
ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him' (1 John 3:15), so I don't even
know whether I am saved or not because I hate
my mother-in-law."
Well, I just let her get in a little deeper
before I got her out.
"My, I'm just in an awful shape," she went on.
"I've got an unforgiving spirit about me and I just
can't forgive her.
I'm in an awful shape."
Well I had met the family and I could under
stand why some things were like they were.
Her husband was the only boy in his family.
He had two or three sisters. His daddy died
when he was just a little hoy five or^six years
old.
And this mother and these sisters had
raised this boy. All these women had sort of
run him and then when he got married his
wife wanted to run him and tell him what to do.
There was a conflict. Now he's married and
his wife is wanting to tell him what to do
but his mother is still wanting to tell him what
to do. He's between the rock and the hard
place.
So I could understand the situation.
But I also knew that this wife was saved and
filled with the Spirit within her heart, her
spirit. And that she was just letting the devil
through her mind and flesh -dominate- her."
She and her husband and my wife and I
went out after church for a sandwich. As we
sat in the restaurant I said to her, after I
saw that she had gotten to the place where she
began to doubt whether she'd ever had anything
from God or not, "Look me right in the eye and
say out loud, ' I hate my mother-in-law.' And
when you do, check up on the inside of you, in
your spirit, (for the Bible says that the love
of God has been shed abroad in our hearts,
not in our heads) and tell me what is going on
inside you."
So she looked me right in the face and said,
" I hate my mother-in-law."
Then I asked her, "What happened on the
inside?"
She said, "There's something scratching me
down there."
" Y e s , Iknow," I said. "You see, there is some
thing on the inside of you trying to get your
attention.
Because the love of God that is in
you wants to dominate you and you are letting
your mind dominateit's all in your head. From
your heart you love everybody, don't you?"
" Y e s , " she exclaimed, " I believe that I do!"
T

"But in your mind," I said, "you've let all

therse things build up."
"What am I going to do?"
"Act in love," I said.
"Let your heart
dominate younot your head."
A few nights later she phoned my wife at the
motel. "Would you come out to the house after
the service tonight. I've invited my husband's
mother and his two sisters and their husbands."
Now previously she wouldn't have anything to
do with them.
We went and had a splendid time. After a
while she came around and whispered to me,
"You were exactly right. It was in my heart
all the time. I was just letting my head domi
nate me. And I wouldn't have anything much
to do with them because I resented them."
Actually the man's mother was a whole lot
the same way. She was saved and filled with
the Spirit all right, but she was letting the
natural dominate her.
Sometimes if you've
just got one boy, you know, there are some
mothers who think that there is no girl in all
the world good enough for my boy, and they don't
mind expressing themselves sometimes. And
"thaTrdoesn't help matters out you know.
"But," she went on, " I ' v e found out that they
are very lovely people and I was just all wrong."
Now there is a sequel to this story that will
help you. This couple had adopted a little g i r l .
When they took her as a baby she was physically
perfect as far as doctors could ascertain. But
at about the age of two-and-a-half she began to
have some kind of spells later diagnosed as
epilepsy. One of the leading specialists on the
West Coast said that he'd never seen a worse
case.
Well, at the time of this incident, the child
was on medication.
She still had seizures,
but they wouldn't be as bad. Her mother wanted
her to receive healing and she was prayed for.
Now, not because someone told her to do so
but because it was her faith she was acting on,
she seemed to be led to take her daughter off
the medication. And she was doing fine. She
went for days with no symptoms whatsoever.
But one day the mother called us. We had
known these ministers before and they were
pretty close to us. "Please come," she cried.
"My daughter is having a spell." (Before the
main epileptic seizure there was a preliminary
attack with symptoms which could be seen.)
On the way over to her house the Lord spoke
to me and said, "Don't pray. Don't pray at
all. Tell her that in the Old Testament God
told Israel that if they would keep His statutes and
commandments, ' . . . I will take sickness away
KENNETH HAGIN
P.O. BOX 50120

from the midst of thee.. .the number of thy days

I will fulfil' (Ex. 23: 25-26). Translate that
over under the new covenant for her and tell
her that the New Testament has only one
commandment."
You see Jesus said in John 13:34-35, "A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also
love one another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another."
"Oh," someone has said, "do you mean we
don't have to keep the Ten Commandments?"
Well, the new commandment is love. If you
love me no one has to say to you, "Thou shalt
not lie on Brother Hagin." If you love me,
you're not going to lie on me. And if you love
me, you aren't going to steal from me. If
you walk in the law of love, you'll never violate
any rule that was given to curb sin. You don't
have to worry about any other commandments.
It's just that simple. Jesus said, " I give you a
new commandment."
And what is that new
commandment?
That you love one another!
And John said, "We know that we have passed
from death unto life, because we love the
brethren..." (1 John 3:14).
And in that car on the way over to her house
Jesus said to me, through the Spirit, "Trans
late that over under the new covenant and tell
her, 'If you'll keep my commandment of love
I'll take sickness away from your midst and
the number of your days you shall fulfill."
And so I told her. I said to her, "We're not
going to pray.
You're walking in love now.
You've gotten all this straightened out between
you and your mother-in-law and your sistersin-law, and you're walking in love. And the
child is not going to have an attack. As long
as you walk in love there will be no sickness
here."
While we were yet talking the preliminary
symptoms left her! We stayed in that meeting
three more weeks and she had no more attacks.
Five years later we saw the family again when
the little girl was around 9 years old. Now
when she had had these attacks between twoand-a-half and four, she had seemed almost r e
tarded. Her coordination was not right. Her
eyes were dull. But when we visited in their
home five years later and saw this little girl
at 9, she was making the highest grades in her
classstraight A ' s on everything. Her eyes
were bright and she was lively and full of life.
We asked her mother if she had ever had an
other attack.
"Never," she replied.
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