Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3). The Early Church had that faith, but what kind of faith was it? What kind of faith would the Word of God tell you to contend for, to strive for, to fight for and to struggle for? What kind of faith must you hold on to and let become a fact within you? It is miracle-working faith.

You must assert your right to the faith of the saints of old and step up to claim it. Most of you know how to claim things you have a legal right to. You know, “This is my property…this is my car…this belongs to me…I have the title or deed to this.” Faith is your deed of inheritance to the things of God.

We are joint-heirs with Jesus here on Earth and not only after we get to Heaven. We are joint-heirs with Him right now in all that He brought and used. We are sons and daughters of God. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12). It is so great to know that we have been made sons and daughters of God. We have been made members of the family of God through the blood that stained the Old Rugged Cross.

Everyone must have a Savior and be redeemed because all people are born in sin. And the only way to be redeemed is through the divine blood. The Bible declares, Without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22).

This great faith is God’s eternal faith, the faith Adam and Eve once had. They were created with physical bodies, but God never intended for them to become sick or die. They would not have had to go to Heaven because Eden would have always been a heaven on Earth. This whole planet would have been a heaven if man had not sinned against God.

They Sold Out

You may think it is terrible that Adam and Eve sold out to the devil, but are you selling out to the devil as well? Do you know people who have sold out to the devil and are living in sin? When you are living in sin, you are sold out to the devil.

Adam and Eve sold everything they had, and sinners are doing the same thing today. If you are sinning against God, you are selling everything of value you have. You are selling eternal life, eternal happiness, eternal peace, eternal joy, eternal goodness, eternal mercy and everything that is eternally good just as Adam and Eve did. You are selling the eternal voice of God, and you will never hear it again for all eternity. That is something to think about.

Again I ask, what kind of faith are we to contend for? Go back to Eden and examine the great faith Adam and Eve used in the beginning. They had divine faith, and that is the sixth sense of God. Adam and Eve’s five physical senses worked in perfection with God because He made their senses holy. When God made man and woman, He made them in His righteousness and holiness. Man was as pure as God Himself, and all his senses were pure—there was no contamination in them. Man also had God’s sixth sense of eternal faith.

Everything man possessed was eternal, but he lost it all when his senses became contaminated; and then everything about him became contaminated. His voice and his hearing were different, and even the voice of God sounded different. In Eden, God’s voice was the loveliest sound Adam and Eve had ever heard. They adored listening to His voice, and it was music to their ears. However, after Adam and Eve sinned, God’s voice became a voice of judgment—a voice without mercy that they had never thought they would hear. It sounded cruel to them, and they were afraid.

Abel Had Faith; Cain Did Not

Adam and Eve no longer had the faith of God. They were without God and without hope, and He drove them out of Eden and into the darkness of spiritual night. Oh, God, how terrible! But their son Abel had perfect faith. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh (Hebrews 11:4). This is the kind of perfect faith we are to contend for.

Cain had been taught what God would accept. He knew he had to offer a blood sacrifice for God to accept it when He killed the first animal in Eden and shed its blood. God had given man that example to show him what was required and how it needed to be done.

God gave man an opportunity to bring their offerings to Him, but their offerings had to include sacrificial blood; however, like a lot of people today, Cain would not obey the plan of God. He had a spirit of rebellion, and he refused to submit to the will of God. Cain didn’t want any part of what God wanted. He knew what type of offering would be acceptable to God, but he was stubborn. Cain was in the darkness of spiritual night, and he committed the sin of murder when he killed his brother, Abel. No one will get into Heaven unless they submit to the will of God.

Some people will join a church, be baptized in water, give to various charities and do many good works; and they call that salvation. But Jesus said, Ye must be born again (John 3:7). Works will not give you a born-again experience. Your soul has to be born new and re-created in the righteousness and holiness of God.

The first Adam failed us completely, but the second Adam, Jesus, won for us completely. Thank God for Jesus! He brought faith, love and greatness. He brought everything we need, and the table of blessings is spread today. We must have Abel’s faith—a type of the faith of Christ, our Sacrificial Lamb. That wonderful faith prepared Abel for Heaven.

Rapture Faith

Enoch had the kind of faith we are to contend for—Rapture faith. God would come down to walk and talk with Enoch. Many years had passed by since God had been able to fellowship with a person like that, so He decided to rapture Enoch and take him to Heaven alive. Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him (Genesis 5:24). Enoch is a type of the raptured Bride. I’m sure there were many other members of Enoch’s family, but he was the only one who got to go to Heaven like that.

The Bible tells us to pray that we be counted worthy to escape this awful world and make the Rapture. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man (Luke 21:36). We are the Rapture generation; and to be able to go to Heaven when Jesus comes, you must contend for this faith.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done (Mark 13:28-30). According to Bible prophecy, the fig tree represents the Jewish nation; and that fig tree bloomed in our day when Israel became a nation in 1948. The Lord said that the generation on Earth when the fig tree bloomed would not pass until all was fulfilled.

We are the Rapture generation. Bible prophecy is moving at a rapid speed, and it seems to be moving faster and faster every day now. The false, world church the Bible tells us about is everywhere. It is so unclean, and God frowns upon it.

One Hundred Twenty Years of Faith

Contend for the faith Noah used when the Lord told him to build an ark. You must have it to do the work God has called on you to do, and that means you must deny self. In this final hour, the Lord is calling for great denial of self as never before. The harvest must be brought in.

When we go to the mission fields, we see thousands of people gather for our services. Souls are our responsibility. When we accepted God’s love, we took on the responsibility to win the souls Jesus died for.

The Lord loves sinners, and He died for each one of them just as He died for you. You must have the kind of faith that can reach them and know that the Lord has chosen you to use that faith to reach them. You must have the kind of faith that tells you the Lord’s command is to get the Gospel to the whole world in this final hour. Never think the task is too gigantic. Just contend for the faith that Noah had, and then you will look to God.

Noah didn’t look to other people or even his relatives, except for his wife, his three sons and their wives. Noah looked to God. The eight of them were in perfect unity with each other and with God, and those were the only ones God could gather together. Noah had preached to people for 120 years, and not one soul had been saved.

You must contend for the kind of faith that doesn’t let discouragement stop you, and always remember that God will never tell you to contend for faith you can’t have. Noah and his family had divine faith, and that is why they were able to hold on to God for 120 years before the great rains came.

Noah and his family had the same divine faith that is offered to us today. It is not human faith or the faith of the five physical senses. Noah’s family had faith that went far beyond those things. They didn’t have just human love; they had divine love. Their divine faith and love lasted, so they could endure.

Don’t Give Time to Discouragement

It is so simple for the devil to discourage some of God’s people today. Thus saith the Lord, you can’t allow devil or man to discourage you in this your final walk, your final hour. Don’t give your mind over to discouragement or even entertain it for one moment. Don’t allow it to be around you or in your spirit in any way. When discouragement knocks on your door, don’t answer.

You must be busy counting the blessings of God and doing His work. When you are on duty for the Lord, you will have no time for people who carry bags of discouragement; and you will not listen to all their negative talk. When your words are full of discouragement, you are not using faith talk; and the words of God’s children are supposed to be full of faith.

Whatever you are full of is what you are going to talk about. When you are full after eating a good meal that you really enjoyed, you talk about it. “Mmm, I had the best meal! Ooh, what a wonderful dessert I had!” But when you are hungry, you will talk about the gnawing feeling in your stomach and say, “I’m about to starve to death.” Your imagination runs away with you, and it will do the same thing when your mind is full of discouragement. Everything that is going wrong will be magnified, and nothing will seem any good.

Magnify the Lord

The Bible tells us to magnify the Lord in our hearts. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together (Psalm 34:3). If you are going to magnify something, let it be the things of God or things pertaining to God. Don’t magnify hurt from your enemies and those who dislike you. Magnify the love of God flowing from His dear saints who care for you and are praying for you. We are to pray one for another with divine love.

We must have deep-rooted faith, and then discouragement won’t get in. Noah could have found a lot to be discouraged about, but God had given him an assignment, which was His plan; and God has given you His plan too. If you don’t have it today, it is because you haven’t accepted it.

God has given all people His plan to evangelize the world. Not everyone can go to the mission field, but you can support those who do go. Jesus gave this divine command: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). Did the Early Church have the faith to do that? Yes, and they evangelized the known world in thirty-three years through God’s greatness and power, through His great love and through people being just like Jesus. They magnified the Lord.

For the first thirty-three years, the Early Church had all the power of Jesus in their lives. They walked like Him, talked like Him and did His work. Jesus told His disciples before He went away, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever (John 14:12,16). Isn’t that rich? Doesn’t that feed your soul? Doesn’t that increase your faith to know what you can have?

Noah Waited on God

Did Noah and the other seven members of his family finish the job God had given them? Yes, they did. Were they ready when the Lord got ready for the rain to begin? Yes, they were. Did they have everything that they were supposed to bring on board the ark when the Lord closed the door? Yes. Were they there ahead of time? Yes, and for seven days after they were on board, the ark door stayed open.

During those seven days, did Noah and his family wait on God to close that door; or did they get ahead of God? Did Noah get nervous and say, “Come on, Children. We had better try to get this door closed. I know we are not supposed to close it, but it looks as though God is not going to close it; and we have to get ready for this flood”? No. Noah waited on God.

I doubt the Lord told Noah it would be seven days before He closed that door, and neither will God tell us that Jesus is coming until the very moment of His appearance; but Noah saw signs from God. One of his greatest signs was the finished ark and the Spirit of God moving upon the animals to get on that ark.

Noah and his family never could have rounded up all those animals. Can you imagine them chasing animals everywhere trying to get them on the ark? If that had been some of us, we would have thought, “I know God said the animals are to be on the ark, but He hasn’t put one on there yet. In fact, the animals seem to be afraid of the ark, and they are really keeping their distance. I had better help the Lord. I think I will try to bring on a few animals and get started. Maybe it will get God to notice us.” Do you see how ignorantly we can think at times? It is because we won’t think in divinity or take on the mind of Jesus.

The Bible says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). Unless you take on the mind of Jesus, you will not have the faith once delivered to the saints. You will have human faith and only little measures of divine faith and divine love—that is the way it works.

The Bible tells us, God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3). But divine faith isn’t measured out anymore. It was given to Christ without measure, and He offers it to us without measure. We can have all the benefits Jesus brought; they are served to us through the Holy Ghost who lives in our lives. There are no limits to God’s benefits unless you put them on God yourself through doubt, fear and unbelief. Don’t limit God by tying His hands.

The Faith of Abraham

Like Abraham, you can have the faith to sacrifice all. God had promised Abraham he would have a son by his wife, Sarah; and he waited for years for God to fulfill that promise. Time passed by until only through a miracle of God would it be possible for Sarah to have a baby because she was ninety years old, but Abraham didn’t look at the condition of Sarah’s body or their ages. The Bible says he waxed strong by looking at the promises of God. And being not weak in faith, he [Abraham] considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God (Romans 4:19,20).

At last, their son was born just as God had promised he would be; and Abraham was delighted with Isaac. Having the son of a promise was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. He was thrilled to death, and he adored Isaac. Isaac was his very heart, but God still came first; and Abraham retained his divine faith.

We have the promises of God today, and we must live by those promises outside of Eden. Inside Eden, Adam and Eve didn’t have to live by promise because they had everything they needed. They didn’t need any promises there; but outside of Eden, we must live by promise. That is the only way to live.

The Bible says, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). Living by faith means living by God’s promises. The just shall walk in the Spirit of His love and promises, in the strength of His promises, in the light of His promises and in the grace of His promises.

Contend for divine faith. It is your birthright through Jesus Christ, and it belongs to you. So many prayers have not been answered because people have not contended for divine faith.

I Was at Death’s Door

Many of my prayers have been answered because of the faith I received when the Lord healed me years ago. I had gone to the edge of the grave and watched my body go down to about a skeleton, and I thought for sure death was near because there were so many things wrong with me. Just a few days before my miracle came, I thought all my faith was gone; and I thought God was going to let me die. I knew I was ready to meet the Lord because I had served Him with all of my heart, but I wanted to live.

Think about being so sick and your body being in such an awful condition. When I ate, the pain was so awful that I would just die deaths; but if I didn’t eat, I was starving to death. The pain felt like a hot iron stuck to my flesh, and I didn’t know how I could stand another moment of it. It was as if I couldn’t live, and I couldn’t die.

Then one night, Jesus came Himself and made me whole all over. He lingered to talk with me, and He told me about a long fast I was to go on. That was the changing point in my life. I had kept my physical senses perfect, pure and clean from the time God saved me at eighteen. Just a short time later, God started preaching through me; and I had never even been to a theological school. The Lord gave me my messages, and I was so anointed that the people would swim before my eyes because of all the divine glory and power. I loved to preach better than I liked to eat because of the way the Lord would bless me. It was a brand-new life.

The night Jesus came to me, He showed me in a vision the great wall that stood between me and Heaven; and because of it, I could believe only for so much. People were healed under my ministry if I could get them to receive their healing before I got to the wall, and I had never seen a wall that high. But that night, that wall came tumbling down in chunks like cement blocks; and for the first time, I could see from Earth to Glory. It was a wonderful feeling! The darkness had passed, and the morning had dawned with deliverance for me. I will never forget that night.

About six weeks later, I went on the long fast God had told me about; and during that fast, God gave me His power. He also gave me His six spiritual senses. They were divine senses that worked in perfect harmony with my physical senses because I had not allowed my physical senses to become contaminated. I had been living in the Lord’s presence; so when the physical and spiritual senses came together, I could reach Heaven.

Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace

Now, when I take people to the Lord, I carry them all the way to the throne of grace. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). We can go boldly before the throne of grace right here on Earth, not only when we get to Heaven; and we can find help in time of need.

The Lord never told us to beg; He said to ask. I have learned to ask the Lord for whatever I need, but you have to ask according to His divine will; and then He will answer. I have learned to knock, and I find the Lord is always at home.

Before Jesus tore down that wall between me and the throne, I would knock; but I really didn’t expect Him to be home for me all the time. I was looking at other Christians and the long, drawn-out process many of them went through trying to get just one prayer answered; but Jesus said in His Word, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matthew 7:7). Jesus gave those instructions in the Sermon on the Mount, and that is the greatest sermon ever preached. With the power I had received from the Lord, answered prayer became simple. I could touch blind eyes, and they would receive their sight. I could touch crippled people, and they would start walking.

At one time, I was conducting services at a church that was packed full of people. There were so many people that the children sat at my feet, and I had just a little ring of space to stand in. A baby was brought to me who had been born with one side of its face deformed and the other side beautiful. I took the baby and held it in my arms. It was like a gentle, spring breeze swept across it, and its face came to normal. It was so thrilling to have a part in God’s miracle and be able to hold that little baby He was working on. We passed that baby around like a collection plate for people to see because so many people knew the baby, and they wanted to see it and examine the miracle.

The Reality of Victory

At last, I was wearing the shoes of Jesus and walking in His steps; and the victory was on. Remember that Jesus said, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12). I had that faith and that power, and it seemed I could believe God for anything.

I had always had a good relationship with God; but now, I was walking hand in hand with Him. The reality of God, the Holy Ghost and the Word were in my life. I had the reality that Jesus Christ, the Savior, would take a poor sinner’s hand, no matter how wretched the person might be, and put it into His nail-riven hand. I had the reality I needed to be able to see that sinner made whole and brand new right before my very eyes, to see them transformed by the power in the blood that stained the Old Rugged Cross. Every day and every hour were pure victory. The nights were victorious with no more of the pain and suffering I had endured for so long.

Down through these many, many years, I have put my head on my pillow countless times and looked up and said, “Oh, God, I thank you that I don’t have a pain!” I sleep without pain, and I wake up without pain. I don’t dread tomorrow because tomorrow is another glorious day, and each one is outlined for my feet by the hand of God and directed by the Holy Spirit. I have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about.

My Greatest Sacrifice

Don’t let anything depress you in this final hour, Children. Take on divine faith, and you won’t have to be depressed. Abraham had to sacrifice everything to have that faith, and I have told the Lord He can have whatever He wants of me. I made my greatest sacrifice when I surrendered my precious wife, Angel, to the Lord. I knew when I came out of that valley that I had won because I knew there could never be another valley that deep.

The Lord told me that by Him taking Angel when He did, she would bring more souls into His Kingdom than if He had left her with me. I have never known anyone in our day whose death has brought so many people to the Lord.

When Angel passed away, I broke into a million pieces. There were not enough human hands on Earth that could have put me back together. It is awful to love someone so much that you feel you can’t breathe without that person. There were times when I would have to catch my breath, and my speech would skip. At other times, I would hemorrhage so much that I would nearly bleed to death…and I really didn’t care. Angel was gone; and it no longer mattered to me if the moon, the stars or the sun ever shined again.

I felt like someone had taken a big sword and cut me in half, and I seemed to be walking with one leg and one foot. It seemed I was ministering with one hand, and I was helpless to go on until the Lord lifted me up and brought me out by His divine faith and love. God was the only one who could console me and fill the emptiness inside.

I’m glad I didn’t know I would have to be without Angel for so long or that it would be so long before Jesus would come. It was awful enough to think it would be a little while until Jesus came, let alone such a long time.

What has brought me this far is the six spiritual senses, and they will bring you out of your deep valleys and take you to the mountain peaks too. Then the Lord can pick you up and leap with you from mountain to mountain. He can skip with you over the hills just as He promised to do in the Song of Solomon. It is all there for you in the Word of the living God, and you can have it through the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Human beings just like you and me can use that faith.

Nothing to Fear

Abraham gave his whole heart to the Lord; and after my experience with the Lord that great night, it became simple for me to give my whole life anew for the outreach to the nations. I have told God I have nothing left to put on the altar because every particle of me is already on the altar. I have been threatened and targeted for death. During more than one crusade, people had set the time to kill me; but I went right on with the services. At one of the civic centers in Canada, security officers were there to protect me because of a bomb threat. They kept close to me and searched everyone who came into the service.

You may ask, “Were you afraid?” No. I am ready to live or die for the Lord’s name’s sake. If the Lord would say, “Ernest Angley, I want you to die for me today”, I would say, “Lord, I am ready.” It takes divine faith to be able to say that. There was a time in my life when I thought I never could have said such a thing and really meant it. You may say you are ready to die for the sake of the Lord, but it is a different story when you are really put to the test.

When I was in a particular place in the United States, there was a gang that terrorized the churches; and the church members and the preachers were afraid of them. It was awful, and no one would do anything about them. I was told they were going to ruin one of my crusade services, and they did their best to do that. One of the police officers told me, “Rev. Angley, they are vicious! When they start to move toward you, I want one of your men to throw you on the floor and cover your body with theirs.” I said, “Not so. No one is going to give their life for mine. If God wants me to live, He will protect me; and I will live. God will take care of me.” And God did take care of me and the entire situation.

I have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. I have told the Lord my life is all His. He can have it piece by piece or all at one time. I don’t keep anything in reserve or hold back on Him. No. I am moving straight ahead and ever onward.

How Much Are You Willing to Sacrifice?

I am called of God, and you are called of God; but you have to decide how much you are willing to sacrifice to walk in the divine will of God. God has a permissible will and a divine will. God may permit you to go to Heaven walking in His permissible will, but you still have to live free from sin. You may be able to fail in doing some of His work and still get into Heaven because the Bible says, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8,9).

To walk in the divine will of God, you will have to have the six spiritual senses and the faith which was once given to the saints. If you don’t walk in God’s divine will, you won’t find that faith—it won’t be there. You may seek the Lord and get a little bit of faith here and there because the Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God; however, if you have the divine senses, you will have the faith that the saints of God had in the past. It won’t come in little measures; it will all be yours.

Be glad your feet are planted in the truth and that you know your way is straight ahead. The road is narrow, and I like it that way because you won’t lose your way on this narrow road. Jesus said, Enter ye in at the strait gate…Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13,14).

Strait is the gate, and I have gone through that gate; and I know I fit the road. Many of you have gone through that gate too, and you can’t let anything get you off that road. The blessings and the greatness of God are on the table for you; and it takes prayer, fasting and living in the Word to have all of those things.

Fasting Increases Faith

Someone once asked me, “How many forty-day fasts have you had?” I said, “I don’t know. There have been so many that I have lost count.”

I thought my first forty-day fast would be my last one, but that was not so. Forty days is a long time to go without eating, but the Lord has led me on many long fasts; and He has always been with me.

I have been on some forty-day fasts when I would lie on the floor, and the Lord would be so real to me that it was as though I was being fed through my veins. I have gone into the pulpit to preach after days and days of fasting, and I would be so weak; but I didn’t want the people to know about it. I would say, “Oh, God, you have to give me strength!” Then the Lord would anoint me, and I would become as strong as a lion. It seemed I didn’t know the end of my strength; but after the service was over, I would hurry to get home before any of the anointing would leave because then I would find out just how weak I really was.

There is strength in God, and that is why I preach such strength to you. Let the weak say, I am strong (Joel 3:10). Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong (II Corinthians 12:10). Be strong in the Lord and in God’s might, God’s love, God’s strength and God’s joy.

Find Strength in Joy

There is great strength in joy. The joy of the LORD is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). The Lord gave me a lot of laughter, and I was always one to laugh; but I never thought I could laugh wholeheartedly again after the Lord took Angel to Heaven. However, the Lord has made me to laugh.

When the Lord gave me the gift of discerning of spirits, I had no idea what manner of person I would have to be to be able to discern all kinds of spirits, both good and bad, and to look into the souls of people and see the demons that bound them. I told the Lord I would be any kind of person He wanted me to be. If He didn’t want me to laugh, I wouldn’t laugh; but the Lord spoke to me and said, “I want you to laugh.” The Bible says, Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh (Genesis 21:6).

The Lord was the one who had to make me able to laugh again for real, and He has done that. God has given me much laughter. I have great joy being with the Lord, spending time in His presence and having His thoughts. I have found much strength in the thoughts of God. Human thoughts give only human strength, but God’s thoughts give divine strength; and it comes through the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

I don’t know anyone on Earth today who has more joy than Ernest Angley. If someone does, I haven’t met them yet; but you can have the same joy. Are you happy in the Lord today, or have you been living beneath your privilege? Did you not know all of this belonged to you? It does; it does. It is not just for Ernest Angley. God is great in lives that are yielded to Him and being served daily all the Lord has on the table. Go to His table daily and partake.

Thousands Swept into the Kingdom

Abraham offered God his heart, and God moved for him. I have given all to God, and He just moves and moves. He honors the ministry wherever I go, and we are sweeping untold multitudes into the Kingdom today. It is hard to tell how many millions of people I have the privilege of preaching to by the way of television and the internet in just one day, and I count that a great honor from God.

It is a wonder to me that a little country boy could be raised up to have a worldwide ministry. God didn’t choose someone who had all the advantages in life. The first time the Lord visited with me, my patched overalls were on the chair by my bed; but the Lord didn’t look at those patches or at the little country boy who was barefoot each summer. God looked in on my heart.

I never would have chosen Ernest Angley to be a preacher, much less to carry His divine power to the nations. I am telling you these things so you know what God can make you in to and do for you. When God calls you to do something, He gives you the talents, the wisdom and the abilities to do it; and the price you pay is giving self to God.

Let’s Talk About Self

To contend for the faith once given to the saints, you must know self; and the Lord wants me to take you into self today. You have to know the old self, or you will never identify with the new self. The old self is your worst enemy; he is public enemy number one to you. What your old self desires and will do is hurtful to the cause of Christ. The opinions, rebellion, resentment, envy and strife of the old self are included in the works of the flesh; but the totally new self is glorious.

One of the nine fruits of the Spirit is temperance, or self-control. The reason self-control is not being produced in the lives of some people is because their old self still lives. They have not crucified it. The old self has to die before the new self can come to life. There has to be a resurrection of you.

We all had to have a salvation resurrection to be saved because the Bible says, we were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Jesus is our resurrection; and through His blood every sinner, no matter how vile, can have a resurrection from the deadness of life into the newness of life.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews that Jesus brought the new and living way. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh (Hebrews 10:19,20). To walk this new and living way, you need a new heart. Self must be made new, and it is wonderful to have a new self!

The Old Self Is a Gauge

What is self? It is the identity, character or essential qualities of a person. Examine your old self and see how mean, ugly, sassy and deceitful you were; and some of us were worse than others. If you claim to be saved, are you really different? Do you have a new self? If you still do the same, old things such as grumbling and complaining or being deceitful, rebellious or angry all the time, then that is the old self acting up. You haven’t been resurrected into newness of life.

When you are truly made new, you come forth like Jesus. You act like Jesus and talk like Jesus. The resurrection of your new self brought the Early Church disciples forth as brand-new creatures in Christ. Then they climbed to the Upper Room and were baptized in the same Holy Ghost Jesus received, and they went forth in the power of the Spirit.

What kind of character was the old you? Were you honest in everything? Were you clean and pure? What kind of person were you, and what qualities did you have? Compare them to who you are today, and decide whether or not you are a real child of God. Have you been resurrected from the deadness of sin? You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).

The Bible tell us that we were all dead in trespasses and sin. If you still have the same, old self with the same characteristics of dishonesty, deceit, rebellion, complaining and arguing, then that is the old you. Examine your old self and how you used to be. What kind of person were you then, and what kind of person are you now?

Once you are free from the old self, you must never go back or even identify with it again. Compare the new self with the old self every once in a while, and use it as your gauge. If you are truly born new, you will realize, “I am not like that any longer. My tongue is under control, and I don’t say mean things to people. I am not dishonest in any of my business affairs or in anything else. I am clean, and I am honest in big things as well as little things. I think the thoughts of God.”

Self-Appointed and Self-Assertive

Do you think you are above other people? Do you strive to be who you think you are rather than who you really are? If so, you are self-appointed and full of the old self; and that won’t work in the eyes of God.

Are you overly self-assertive? Do you insist on receiving your rights and having people abide by your claims of who you are and what you are? Do you grumble at God because He doesn’t move the way you want Him to or do things the way you want them done? Do you constantly grumble and complain? If so, you are self-assertive; and you are becoming a person God doesn’t like. You are forward and pushy, and God has no time for that old spirit; yet some so-called Christians are like that. They are very pushy and forward with their tongue, and they say things they shouldn’t say.

Self-Assured and Self-Confident

Self shows up again in self-assurance, which is having confidence in your own abilities and talents rather than having confidence in God and knowing where those abilities and talents came from. You would not have your talents if God had not given them to you, and those talents are to be anointed and used by God.

You can find many people in the world who are full of self-assurance; however, many who achieve world fame with their talents end up falling. They become disillusioned, and the public eventually pushes them aside. Many of them die without hope and without God. Some have committed suicide, and others are on their way to taking their life.

Many people work hard to climb the ladder of fame, but we are working to climb Jacob’s humble ladder to Heaven. Jesus is our ladder, and He is the greatest ladder of humility that will ever be. You have to be humble to climb that ladder.

Stop being confident in self and be confident in the Lord. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Philippians 4:13). But you hear many people boasting, “I can do this,” or “I can do that,” or “I am more qualified than that person. Why didn’t I get that part? Why didn’t I get that place?” The Bible tells you to prefer your brother above yourself, but many only prefer their brother when it is something they don’t want to do. You may say to your brother, “I prefer you for this job.” Then you may smile so sweetly and act as though you have done that person your most gracious deed of the whole day…but did you really mean what you said?

Self-Centered, Self-Acting

Being self-centered means you are interested only in your own affairs and in self, self, self. You think, “Whatever is going good should come to me. I should be served first. I should have the best available and the most attention. If God is going to answer anyone’s prayers, He should answer mine first.”

Being selfish and self-centered are not part of the new creation, and those things should not be a part of the new man or woman. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17). We have that wonderful fruit of self-control for a purpose!

Self-acting means self is in action, and it doesn’t need any outside influence. In other words, you know it all; and you don’t want anyone to tell you anything. Unfortunately, a lot of children are like that today. They don’t want mother or daddy to tell them anything. They become like so many of the selfish, sassy children you see on television, and they act up in all kinds of rebellious ways.

Anymore, children think they are grown at twelve or thirteen, and some even much younger than that. Parents, you are responsible to keep your old self down with your new self and to keep the bad self down in your children. You are to groom them with the Spirit of God. You must let them know that as long as they sleep in your bed and eat your food, they are going to abide by what you tell them in that home. If they become so self-willed that they won’t listen to you, then let them know they can “self-will” food and money from another source. They have to know they must obey or suffer the consequences.

Children will do whatever they can get by with, and you are foolish to take it. He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (Proverbs 13:24).

Jesus Taught Self-Denial

Divine love has discipline in it. You will find in the Bible that God’s love is the greatest love ever, and it has strict discipline. Self-denial is the first instruction Jesus gave when He said, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24). Jesus was talking to people who had the old self, and He let them know they would have to deny their old self in order to have the new self.

You must keep your old self denied through the love of God, the faith of God and the humility of Christ. You have to live in that state of denying the old self, or it will be resurrected. You cannot bury self deep enough on your own, so you have to let the Holy Spirit do it; and you can be at the funeral.

Self-denial means sacrificing one’s own desires or pleasures, and Moses did that. He denied himself the pleasures of sin for a season that he might win Heaven for himself. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward (Hebrews 11:24-26).

When you deny self, you put down your own desires that don’t match the desires of Christ. You have love for people, and you don’t put your desires above your responsibilities to others or their needs. You are not to hold yourself over people’s heads; you are to show the humility of Jesus. You can’t do everything your flesh would like to do; you have to spend time with God.

You will never know how much Angel and I denied ourselves of things other couples enjoyed. Many of them went places and did a lot of things; but Angel and I were never away from our congregation for one Sunday in the seventeen years she helped me raise up this great work of God, except for the Sunday when I preached my mother’s funeral in North Carolina. We never went away for a weekend. We denied ourselves and sacrificed our own desires and pleasures for God. We gave up things we would have liked to have done. Sure, we would have enjoyed a nice vacation, but we stayed with our flock and blessed the sheep. We ministered to people day and night.

Examine Self

Self-examination is examining or studying one’s own qualities, thoughts, conduct or motives. In other words, it is analyzing self; and you have to analyze yourself. Many times, we get too busy looking at other people. We analyze them, and that is not our business. You are not supposed to examine others; self-examination is for your own self. Study your own qualities and thoughts.

What kind of thoughts do you have? I don’t mean the thoughts that pass through your mind but the ones you hang on to. Do you hold on to thoughts of resentment, of how you have been abused or how you have been hurt? Those thoughts will bring ugly grudges, and the Spirit of God can’t stay when you have grudges.

What are your intentions and motives for doing different things? Did you mean to hurt someone? You need to examine self every day.

Beware of Ego!

Feeling self-important brings about ego, and there is too much ego in this world. People say, “Look at who I am.” I decided one day that everyone was made out of the same kind of mud I’m made of. I never feel I am greater than others in anything, but I do feel big about the greatness of God.

How big is God? He is big enough for everything I need help with. God is big enough to supply my needs, and He is big enough to supply your needs. He is big enough to make plain paths for my feet, and He is big enough to make plain paths for your feet.

Self-ego is having an exaggerated opinion of yourself, of how important you are and of what you are worth. I wish I could buy some people for what they are worth and then sell them for what they think they are worth. Then I would no longer have to take any offerings. I would just buy and sell, and the ministry would have what it needs. Those with self-ego are living in the old self, not the new self. In the new self that the Lord re-creates, you are like the first Adam God made—a man with a self like God’s own self who has no ego. We are to be like Jesus.

If some people today had a garden like Eden was, they would strut around like a peacock. In fact, no self-respecting peacock would strut that much. People’s noses would be so high in the air that you couldn’t see the tops of their heads. They would be saying, “Look at what I own and all the riches I have.” The riches of this world look like a trash pile when compared to the riches of Heaven. The streets of Heaven are paved with gold, and the twelve foundations of the city are garnished with all kinds of precious stones. If the foundation is like that, I wonder what the rest of it might be like.

I want to see the new Jerusalem. God didn’t tell us all about it, but He told us about things in it we are familiar with—gold and precious stones. I haven’t seen much gold in my lifetime, but I have seen a little; and God gave us a little sample of Heaven when He said there would be whole streets of gold. That is fantastic!

An exaggerated opinion is destructive, and it can destroy you and others. Many people are opinionated and have exaggerated opinions of themselves. I’m sure you have been around people who were opinionated and have seen what it causes. Do you exaggerate who you are and have a high opinion of yourself while having a very low opinion of others? A person with the new self does not do that. You feel you are so important, and you show it in your behavior. Self-importance comes out in a way that is offensive to the Holy Spirit. You must study yourself.

Self-Indulgence and Self-Love

Self-indulgence is indulging in self, in your own desires and in your own ways rather than in the Lord’s desires and ways. You meditate on your own desires and not on the Word of the Lord, and that should not be. When you have the fruits of the Spirit, they take care of all of that. They take care of the new self and keep it in one hundred percent heavenly shape and full of heavenly sunshine.

Self-love is when people are in love with themselves. When one partner is in love with self instead of being in love with his or her mate, there is no real marriage; and that is why so many marriages fail. In a true marriage, you must love your mate more than you love yourself. The Bible says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 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. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself (Ephesians 5:25-28).

Angel loved me more than she loved herself, and I loved her more than I loved myself. We both put the other one first, and that is the reason we had such a wonderful, glorious marriage. We wanted the other one to be satisfied and happy; and when you make your mate happy, he or she will make you happy in spite of yourself. Think of marriage like throwing a rubber ball against a brick building—what you put into it will come back to you. But remember that the wrong things you put into a marriage will bounce back to you as well.

Being stubborn and full of your own opinions causes problems, not only for those who are married but also for those who are not. At work, some people want to give their opinions about everything; and no one else’s opinion counts with them. Stubbornness is not a part of the new self; it is of the old self you were born with. If you keep that old self, you will not make it to Heaven; and you definitely won’t make the Rapture.

If you have any self-love, you have to get rid of it. Unfortunately, the time came when the Early Church disciples left their first love and fell in love with other things and mostly, with self, I’m sure. That is why they went away from the Lord.

Self-Interest

Self-interest means you put your will above God’s will. When you come to the end of the day, do you check to see whether or not you took care of God’s affairs? Was taking care of God’s interests your greatest thought of the day? Did you do His work? When you promise to do something as a volunteer for God, do you put your self-interests and what you want to do for yourself above your promise?

In all the work you do and in all the ways you go, do you put God first or self first? When it comes to going to church, do you put God first or self first? When company comes to your house, do you stay home with them and put them first; or do you say, “Come on; let’s go to church”? If you don’t say that, you are really putting self first. You may say you don’t want to hurt their feelings; but you are really more concerned with hurting yourself and going by your own self-feelings because staying at home is what you really want to do.

The truth is if you want to stay home, you will stay home; and if you want to go to church, you will go. I never let company keep me out of church. If they decide not to go to church with me, I just tell them, “Make yourself at home, and I’ll be back.” It is time to take care of God’s business and contend for His faith.

Do You Need Jesus?

If you are a sinner or a backslider, come to Jesus! Let me persuade you as one who loves your soul to believe in the blood that stained the Old Rugged Cross. That blood of Jesus will cleanse you and make you a new creature. It will deliver you, give you fellowship with God and give you peace in your soul and spirit.

If you don’t know Jesus today, ask Him to let His blood flow into your soul. Pray with me now saying, Oh, God, I confess that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary with divine blood. Jesus shed His divine blood for me, and it has power to wash away every sin. I believe that His shed blood will wash away all of my sins. Come into my heart, Jesus! Come on in.

If you believe that prayer, the power in the blood will make your soul new in a moment of time. In just a split second, all your sins can be washed away through the blood of the Lamb. Put your faith in the blood of Jesus. He brought that holy, sacred blood down from Heaven to redeem fallen humanity.

Do You Need Healing?

Divine blood had to be shed for healing as well as for salvation; and without the divine blood, there would be no healing for us today. God gave all of this to me and showed me that the blood brought about healing. There is healing through the blood of Jesus for whatever disease or affliction you may have whether it is cancer, heart trouble, AIDS, diabetes or anything else. The blood ran from His back when He was beaten; and through that blood, we have healing for the physical body. With his [blood] stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

If you need healing today, accept this prayer of faith right now: Lord, I bring the people to you. I have brought the living Word and the living Christ, the Divine One, to the people this day. Now, from your supernatural gifts of healing and miracles, the power comes through the name of your Son, Jesus. Healing flows through the blood of Jesus. Heal! Heal! in the name of the Lord. Heal! in the holy, holy name of Jesus.

Thus Saith the Lord

This is your hour of revelation. This is your hour of visitation. I have visited with you. During this whole message, I have visited with you. I have visited with you, and I have flowed my anointing to you in every way you would accept; so you would receive everything I had given my servant to give to you.

Open your heart, open your mind to me; and I will give you wisdom and knowledge. I will give you wisdom and knowledge and the ability to understand…to understand my faith like you have never understood it before. And I will give you that which so many of you have desired—the understanding of my faith, how it works, and how to receive my faith and all of its greatness.