How To: Flow In The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

How To: Flow In The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit
By Andrew Wommack
free audio download of complete teachings here at: http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/flow_gifts
I believe that one of the biggest reasons that the body of Christ hasn’t made a greater impact on our generation today is because of our failure to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Without a doubt, Jesus and the first apostles used the gifts like a bell, calling men to their message and confirming that God was truly the One speaking through them.
Hebrews 2:3-4 says, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” The Lord bore witness to the accuracy of their message through miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
In Mark 16:17-18, Jesus said all true believers would flow in the miraculous: “And these signs will follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” If a Christian’s life isn’t supernatural, it’s superficial.

Mark goes on to say that messages based in God’s Word would be confirmed by signs following: “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”

Jesus even said, “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not” (John 10:37). That’s a strong statement. If we were to apply that standard to ministers today, most wouldn’t be believed.

The vast majority of preaching done in the name of the Lord today is without the power of the Holy Spirit manifest through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is not the way the Lord intended it to be.
The “main line” denominations have developed doctrines to cope with this obvious discrepancy. However, regardless of the rationale, it’s absurd to think that we can be effective without the power of the Holy Spirit confirming the preaching of God’s Word. If Jesus and the early apostles needed their preaching validated, how can we do any less?
Even the non-denominational churches have fallen away from ministering in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts that operate in most “Spirit-filled” churches are simply words of exhortation or prophecy. There is much more.
The Lord has used the gifts of the Holy Spirit mightily in my life and ministry to confirm His Word. There are countless times when people were still skeptical after hearing me teach, but the demonstration of God’s power through the gifts turned them into believers. It’s like the teaching fills their mouths with God’s Word, then the gifts of the Holy Spirit slap them on the back and make them swallow it. Hallelujah!
One of the most important steps to flowing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to earnestly desire them. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:31, “But covet earnestly the best gifts.” He repeated that thought in 1 Corinthians 14:1 when he said, “Desire spiritual gifts.” Another way of saying this is, as long as you can live without flowing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you will. You have to seek these gifts with all your heart (Jer. 29:13).
It’s also very important to understand that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are always flowing. God doesn’t turn them “on” and “off.” We are the ones who are “on” or “off.” That’s a startling statement to many people and one that verges on blasphemy to some, but it’s true. The Lord is always ready to flow through us in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
It’s just like praying in tongues. We don’t have to wait for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to come on us to speak in tongues. We can pray in tongues at any time. It’s not us turning on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always on and giving us the ability to speak in tongues. Therefore, whenever we turn ourselves on, the gift of tongues is there to allow us to communicate with our heavenly Father. Praise the Lord! That’s the way it is with all the gifts.
I remember one time that I was teaching along these lines in our Charis Bible College. One of the students said, “So, you are saying that you can flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit at any time?” I said, “That’s right and I’ll prove it to you.” I then started down each row and just started “reading the students’ mail. I was telling them things that had to be coming from the Holy Spirit. It was awesome.
No one has received everything that the Holy Spirit has for them. Therefore, the Lord is always seeking to release more to us through His supernatural gifts. Whenever we put ourselves in a mode to be His channel, His gifts will flow. The old “Pentecostal” doctrine of the anointing coming and going is not a New Testament truth.
First John 2:27 says, “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you.”
Another great truth about flowing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit is …”the divine flow.” This is based on, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, whenever we discern the love of God flowing through us toward someone, God is reaching out to them through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All we have to do is follow that flow through faith.
Once when I was pastoring a little church in Pritchett, Colorado, my heart just went out to a woman in the back of the room. I’d never seen her before, and there was nothing natural that drew me to her. It was just the love of God flowing through me to her. Because of that love alone, I told her that God had a word for her. I didn’t have one single word to say to her, but I knew God’s love was flowing; and therefore, God and His gifts were flowing to her. I just started by saying, “God loves you.” God then flooded my mind with things to minister to her.
It was a long word from the Lord, but I specifically told her about how she was grieving over the loss of someone and was confused about why God allowed it. I kept saying, “It wasn’t God that allowed it. It was the Destroyer.” I said that a number of times. She broke down in tears and was really ministered to.
After the service, she told me that she had just lost her son to leukemia. They believed that God allowed this disease. But just before her son died, he saw this huge demon over their town, which the Lord told him was named the Destroyer. They didn’t know how to interpret that until I spoke to them through the gifts of the Holy Spirit and put it all in order. They were set free.
This was the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom in operation. God gave the knowledge of what had happened and then gave words of wisdom to instruct them on how to deal with it. This all came because I followed the love that I felt in my heart.
This has happened to us all, but most of the time we don’t understand this is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and we miss an opportunity. I’ve learned this the hard way.
There was a man who had been my youth director when I was just a young boy. He left our Baptist church before I was a teenager, and I heard how he had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and was seeing great miracles happen. He had one room in his church that was filled with the wheelchairs, crutches, and braces of people who were healed and didn’t need them anymore.
During a three- or four-month period of time, I thought about this man often. It was usually while I was in prayer that he would just come to mind, and I would feel the compassion of God toward him. I would just wonder what was happening with him and then dismiss the thoughts. Later, I found that he had died in a freak accident where a red ant bit him on the thumb.
As soon as I heard of his death, I knew that the reason I had been thinking of him so often was because the Lord was trying to get me to intercede for him. Over a decade later, I met this man’s son, and I confessed to him my failure to pray for his dad. He told me that I was at least the twelfth person who had told him a similar story. The Lord had impressed many of us to intercede for this man, but none of us recognized it as the Lord.
It is imperative that we learn to recognize and flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It’s not only a blessing to us, but the lives of other people may depend on it. You are carrying someone’s miracle. Don’t let it stay inside. You have to learn how to release it.
There is much more that the Lord has shown me about flowing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This article doesn’t come close to covering all the material I have on my series entitled, How To: Flow in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I really encourage you to get this teaching and start moving supernaturally in a whole new way.
My new three-part album is laced with personal examples of how the Lord has used me in the gifts. I share how I learned to recognize and respond to God’s gifts in such a practical way that I know it will help you to do the same. This is very practical teaching about a very supernatural lifestyle. It’s awesome!

___________________________Watchman’s notes:
Indeed the flow in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit has built up many of the believers even in a tiny community where the watchman resides currently. The Lord means every word that has proceeded out of His mouth. Jesus has confirmed this truth. He has declared in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Be wise investors: Be foundation builders

State Of The Ministry
By Andrew Wommack(from: http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/state_ministry)

Foundation Builders are people who understand the importance of equipping faithful men and women for the work of the ministry. And they know that equipping them with the message of God’s unconditional love and grace will give them the power to affect other lives. With that understanding, Foundation Builders have committed to helping Andrew build a new facility large enough to accommodate a student body of 3,000.

I remember the first time Jamie and I heard preaching on prosperity. The message was great, and we needed to hear it again and again. But we couldn’t afford to buy even one tape. Jamie was eight months pregnant, and we hadn’t eaten in days—we couldn’t afford food. As I looked at the tears in her eyes, I made a commitment to God: “If You ever give me something that will help others, I will never refuse them access to it because of lack of money.”
I really had no idea what that would mean, but thanks to the faithful support of our partners, we have now given away over six million tapes, CDs, and booklets.We receive emails and letters every day thanking us for the free materials and telling us how their lives were changed as a result.
Those early times in the 1970s were days of humble beginnings, to say the least. There was absolutely no evidence back then that would have convinced anyone of where the Lord would one day take this ministry. As I look back over the years, I am amazed at what He has done.
Today we have the potential of reaching one-third of the people on the planet with the Gospel Truth television program. Our signal is being broadcast around the world by satellite and being received by viewers through satellite dishes and cable and even old-fashioned antennas in underdeveloped countries like Uganda. Certainly not everyone who could view our programs does, so there is still much to be done.
We have begun broadcasting in other languages. This year the Gospel Truth can be heard and seen through the CNL network across the eleven time zones of Russia, in their language. I can hardly imagine what I must sound like speaking Russian or Hungarian.
Much of the world now has internet capability. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can go to our website and watch or listen to the Gospel Truthand download hundreds of hours of teaching materials. We are currently receiving nearly 600,000 website hits per month (over 19,000 per day). And new for 2010, we have just launched Charis Bible College (CBC) Online.
The CBC Online school is changing everything about the way people can study. We will go to them wherever they are via the internet, with downloadable lessons and videos and a facilitator to lead interactive discussion forums online. This will be as close as one can get to attending classes in person. Based on the interest we’ve already gotten, I believe that thousands of students from across the globe will be enrolling in online school in the next few years.
The CBC first-year curriculum is designed to build a strong biblical foundation through basic course study. Therefore, it can easily be accomplished online. The second year, however, requires class attendance because it goes beyond study to hands-on, practical ministry. Second-year students participate in events, are given opportunities to minister, and must travel abroad on a missions trip.
Upon completion of the first-year classes online, many of these students will find themselves wanting to enroll in one of our schools to complete their second year. In America, besides our parent campus in Colorado Springs, we have schools in Atlanta; Chicago; Kansas City; Dallas; Jacksonville; and Dyer, Indiana.
Worldwide CBC schools are located in Walsall, England; Belfast, Northern Ireland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Belize City, Belize; Chennai, India; Kampala, Uganda; and soon, Heidelberg, South Africa. We currently have over 1,000 students attending our schools, over 1,000 enrolled in correspondence courses, and now the online school will provide thousands more with the opportunity to learn.
In addition, new in 2010, we have just launched a third-year CBC program, available only at our Colorado Springs campus. The third-year “Vocational School of Ministry” curriculum is designed for those who desire to make the ministry a career. It will offer courses emphasizing everything from music to business administration in the church.
Happy Caldwell, Duane Sheriff, and Bob Yandian will anchor the third year by teaching the “School of the Pastors” courses. Each area of study has qualified and experienced leaders teaching the classes. For details, go to our website at http://www.charisbiblecollege.org.
During my recent trip to Europe, I witnessed the power of books and literature. Andrew Wommack Ministries Europe (AWME), has overseen the translation of many of my books into thirty-seven different languages. Every place we held meetings, from Poland to Hungary to Germany, teaching materials in printed form were in high demand. When people can read about the message in their languages, it makes all the difference. When I leave, those materials stay behind and keep on teaching. They are usually passed from one person to the next, affecting dozens of lives.
To help distribute materials and serve needs more efficiently, we have opened several new offices in addition to the AWME office in Walsall, England. We are now operating from offices in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; St. Petersburg, Russia; Kampala, Uganda; Heidelberg, South Africa; and Chennai, India. As you can see, offices and schools usually work hand in hand using the same facilities.
To say the ministry is experiencing growth is an understatement. Since 2001, when I first began on television, we have grown at the rate of 28 percent per year. That means we have doubled every 2.6 years. I could give you all of the statistics that measure the growth, but there is something much more important than statistics: The lives that those statistics represent.
In America, for instance, over 20,000 people per month call our Helpline, most of them in need of prayer. We see people healed and set free all day, every day, through the anointed people in the Phone Center.
Our Production Department ships over 30,000 packages of teaching materials each month. Combine that with the 122,000-plus downloads through the website, and it gives you an idea of how hungry people are for the truth of the Gospel. By the way, all downloads are free, and 52 percent of what we ship has been requested and mailed without a gift of any kind. Thank God for the many faithful partners who make all of this possible.
Growth is a blessing, but it also presents us with the challenge of accommodating the results. The school is the most pressing issue. At the present rate of growth, we will be maxed out in three to five years. It leaves us with the choice of expanding and building or limiting enrollment. I believe God wants us to expand, and He has just provided us with a miracle that will allow that to happen.
In September of last year, we purchased 157 acres of pristine mountain property within the city limits of Woodland Park, Colorado, fifteen miles west of Colorado Springs and only thirty minutes from the Colorado Springs Airport.
One year ago, the property was priced at over $10 million. We closed on the property September 21, 2009 for $4 million. As a special bonus, there is an 8,400-square-foot lodge that by itself is worth over $2 million, not to mention the three ponds, the barn and other outbuildings, and the fact that it backs up to the Pike National Forest. This purchase would not have happened in a strong economy. Only God could have arranged this timing. It’s the blessing of the Lord.
We are currently working on a master plan with architects and going through the process of city and county zoning and approval. It is my hope that we will complete the first phase of this project by the end of 2012. That phase will include an auditorium, facilities for the school, and the Phone Center. The rest of the AWM departments will move to the new location as phases two and three are completed in the years to come.
I am not condemning or criticizing other non-profit organizations; they all have reasons for the decisions they make. But for little more than the price of purchasing and operating a large private jet, we can complete this entire project. I would much rather change the lives of thousands of future students who will impact the world than fly in comfort.
Please prayerfully consider becoming a Foundation Builder. Ask God what He would have you do to help with this building program.
Jamie and I could not be more thankful to our partners. Yes, God is changing the lives of thousands through this ministry. However, it’s not just Jamie and me. We cannot complete this project any more than we can provide free teaching materials without the Lord first speaking to you about helping. God has built a team to accomplish His purpose. Thanks for being a part of the team.
http://news.awmi.net/v-tour

Many are long-time partners who have been led by God to give above and beyond their current pledges, to help complete this building project. Some are people who have never helped the ministry before. But all are people who love God and want to see lives changed as this message spreads around the world.
http://www.awmi.net/foundation_builders