[C H A P T E R 6] TONGUES BEYOND THE UPPER ROOM – GOD WILL VISIT HUNGRY HEARTS BY KENNETH HAGIN


C H A P T E R 6
GOD WILL VISIT HUNGRY HEARTS
You’ll never really begin to grow spiritually as you ought to grow  until you are filled with the Holy Ghost and begin to speak with other  tongues. That’s absolutely the truth.  I know from personal experience that in the heart of every  born-again man, woman, and child, there is a hunger that cannot be
satisfied without the infilling with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of  speaking in tongues.  In my case, I had already been preaching for four years before I  received the Holy Ghost. I knew in my spirit I was a child of God. I had
the witness of the Spirit that I was saved. I preached and saw others get  saved. I prayed for the sick and saw them get healed. Nevertheless,  there was a void in my spirit that was never filled until I received the  Holy Ghost and spoke with other tongues.

I remember a particular testimony I once heard that proves this  point, shared by a denominational pastor at a Full Gospel
Businessmen’s luncheon. Just a few days before the luncheon,  this pastor had received the Holy Spirit in the sanctuary of his  own church. As we all sat there eating our meal together, I  looked over at this minister. I was drawn to him because his face  was all lit up like a neon sign in the dark!  Later the minister stood up and shared his testimony with us.  He said, “I’m so glad I’m here today. I heard a lot of negative  rumors about you Full Gospel folks in the past and, I’m sorry to  say, I believed it. But my heart was just so hungry, and nothing  seemed to satisfy that hunger. There was a void and a vacancy  within me, even though I’ve preached for a number of years and
our church had just built a new church building. The more I read  the New Testament, the more I was convinced in my own spirit  that I didn’t have what it takes to meet the people’s spiritual
needs.”

The denominational pastor then related what had happened  just a few days earlier as he walked up and down the aisles in  his church sanctuary, praying. He prayed, “Lord, as I read the  New Testament, I see that Your early disciples had something I  don’t have. You told Your disciples to tarry in the city of
Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on High.  Some way or another, there has to be an enduement of power  that I can receive.  “I know I’m saved, but if I’m going on in the ministry, I must  have more. I feel so inadequate. I just can’t get behind the pulpit to preach again without receiving the something else’ that I’m  convinced You want to give me. I can’t face the people feeling so
empty!”  Then the pastor said to the Lord, “I’ve heard a lot about  Pentecostal people and tongues, and I don’t know what to think  about that, Lord. But I want You to know this: If tongues are
involved with this ‘something else’ that I need from You, then I  want You to give me tongues!”
The pastor continued to walk up and down the aisles of his church,  talking to the Lord. Suddenly he lifted up his hands and cried out in  desperation, “Oh, God, hear me! Fill me with Your Spirit!” Just like that,  the Holy Ghost fell on him, and he began to speak with other tongues!
The denominational minister related what he did next: “I thought,  Surely this is what those Pentecostal folks are always talking about!  Immediately I wanted to fellowship with someone else who’d had the  same experience. I remembered that I’d once gone fishing with a  Pentecostal pastor, although the pastor hadn’t said a word about the
Holy Ghost or tongues on the fishing trip. Our conversation had  centered on Bible topics that weren’t objectionable to either of us.  “So I rushed to my office, looked up the Full Gospel pastor’s
telephone number, and called him. When he answered, I reminded him
of the fishing trip, and he remembered me.”  Then this denominational minister blurted out to the Pentecostal  pastor, “I think I just got what you folks have!”  “What do you mean?” the Full Gospel pastor asked.  “The baptism in the Holy Ghost!” replied the denominational pastor.  Then he started speaking in tongues over the phone. The Pentecostal pastor exclaimed, “That’s it! You do have the baptism in the Holy Ghost! Praise the Lord!” And the two men rejoiced together. This denominational minister’s testimony is just like many other people’s testimonies I’ve heard over the years. From these testimonies, from the Word, and from my own personal experience, I know for a fact that God will visit hungry hearts, wherever they may be.

A River of People With Hungry Hearts

I also want to relate to you a particular experience I had in the  Spirit in 1962 that applies to what we’re talking about here,  because it convinced me that God wants His people to be filled  with the Spirit. During a meeting in Texas, I was in the middle of  relating to the congregation a particular vision the Lord had  given me years earlier. Suddenly I realized that I’d misinterpreted part of that vision; I’d never received the whole
interpretation until that moment. Overcome by that revelation, I immediately stopped speaking, knelt down behind the pulpit,  and started praying. The congregation began to pray too.  Toward the end of that time of prayer, I fell into a trance, and  my physical senses were suspended. In this trance, I suddenly  seemed to be in a different place, walking toward a beautiful  garden full of flowers in bloom. The garden had a white picket
fence around it and many little paths running through it. Right  in the middle of the garden was a little brush arbor, overflowing  with vines and flowers, with a marble bench on either side of the
arbor. I came walking from the east to the gate of this garden, and  Jesus stood by the gate. As I walked up to Him, we never said a word to each other. He just reached out His hand and took hold
of my right hand. Then with His left hand, Jesus opened the gate, drew me inside, and shut the gate. Jesus took my right hand in His hand and led me down the path to this little arbor in the middle of the garden. He sat down on the marble
bench and drew me down to sit next to Him. Then I looked to the west and saw a river flowing into the west side
of the garden. The river was very narrow where it entered the garden.

But as I looked at this river flowing toward us, it got wider and wider
until it seemed to be 50 miles wide!
Suddenly the river was no longer a river of water but a river of  many, many people. I could see them as they flowed toward us like a mighty army, coming faster than people could ever walk or march. I asked Jesus, “Lord, what is this river I see? Who are these people?”
Jesus said, “This river flowing into the garden are those who shall be brought into the baptism in the Holy Ghost and the fullness of the  Pentecostal message from other denominations and other churches.  “In these days,” Jesus continued, “I am visiting and will visit every  hungry heart, even in some religious areas where many might think I
would not visit. Yet because people’s hearts are open and hungry, I will
visit them. And these you see flowing into the garden are those who
shall come.”
Thank God, since that vision so many years ago, we’ve been seeing
countless multitudes of hungry hearts come into the fullness of the  Holy Ghost—and there is no end to that river yet!  Then in the vision I asked, “Lord, what do all these flowers  and that marvelous, fragrant aroma represent?”  Jesus responded, “The beautiful aroma of these flowers is the  praise ascending to My throne as incense of the ones who will
come into the fullness of My Spirit.”
The Lord said to me, “You must play a part in this. You will  work with these people in the various denominations. You will  minister to Full Gospel people to help them be prepared for My
coming. I will show you how and what to do.”
A Little Deeper and Further
This truth was confirmed to me in the 1960s, during the move  of God in the denominational churches that we call the  Charismatic Movement. I was one of the speakers at a certain  meeting, along with an Episcopal priest named Brother
Patterson. While teaching on the baptism in the Holy Ghost,  Brother Patterson related an incident that happened in one of his meetings when a man stood up in the back of the audience  during his teaching and challenged him.  Since not everyone could hear the fellow in the audience,  Brother Patterson, a very kind and soft-spoken man, said, “Brother, if you have something to say, come down here where everyone can hear it.”

The man, who was obviously upset, came forward, and  Brother Patterson handed him the microphone. The man said, “I
was saying that I’m a pastor [and he mentioned his denomination], but I don’t speak with tongues. But I’m just as
much filled with the Holy Ghost as you are or anyone else is! I don’t speak with tongues, and I don’t need to speak with
tongues!” Brother Patterson then took back the microphone and said, “Dear
Brother, if you’re satisfied with what you have, that pleases us just fine. If you don’t want any more of God or if you have all of God you need …”
“Oh, no!” the pastor interrupted. “I didn’t say that I don’t want more of God.” “Well,” Brother Patterson said, “the way you talked, I thought you had all of God you ever wanted.” “Oh, no, no, no, no,” the man said, “I’m still hungry. I’d like…”
Before the pastor could say more, Brother Patterson laid his hand on
his head and said, “Lord, he’s hungry. Just give him more.” And that denominational pastor got filled with the Spirit and started speaking in
tongues right then and there! That happened because the man was hungry. He was open to going on with God—he just didn’t realize that getting more of God would involve speaking with other tongues! This denominational pastor had
already been introduced to the Holy Spirit in the New Birth, but that day he entered a new dimension in his walk with God—deeper and further than he had ever been before!

A Gift for the Hungry Heart

I read another testimony just after World War II of a denominational missionary to Africa. In 1946 this woman missionary returned to the United States for the first time after ministering without a break for 37  years in the bush country of Africa. When she first arrived in New York City, she was overwhelmed by all the noise, traffic, and crowds of
people. She said, “I just had to shut myself up in my hotel room, and I
stayed there for five days away from everything. But I did listen to the radio, and I heard a broadcast from Glad Tidings Tabernacle, located there in New York City. I called the hotel desk and found out that the church was within two blocks of the hotel where I was staying. I thought, Well, I believe I’ll just get out and go to that church Sunday night. I believe I can do that. By then I’ll have been in the city for seven days, so I think I’ll be adjusted to city life enough to go out in public. “So I went to the Sunday night service. After the pastor’s message, he gave an altar call and sent the people who came forward to a downstairs prayer room. Then when the service was over, I went over and introduced myself to the pastor’s wife. I told her what denomination I belonged to and that I’d been a missionary in Africa for 37 years. She and her husband welcomed me and showed me around the church.” The pastor and his wife took the missionary downstairs to their large prayer room, where altar workers were praying with the people who had answered the altar call. Some were praying for salvation, while others were praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As the missionary observed, several believers in the prayer room burst out speaking with other tongues. The pastor’s wife explained to the woman, “Those folks are being filled with the Holy Ghost.” The missionary replied, “Well, I’ve never been around Pentecostal people, but I’ve heard folks talk about them. Is that strange language I hear those people speaking what you Pentecostals call the baptism in the Holy Ghost?” “Well, you’re hearing them speak in tongues, which is the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s infilling,” the pastor’s wife said. “Why, I’ve had that for the past 37 years!” the missionary woman exclaimed. “I knew that God had blessed me, but I didn’t know what to call it!” The missionary explained to the pastors: “When I first arrived in Africa years ago as a young single missionary woman, I had all these glamorous ideas about being a missionary. But when I got over there, I found out it was tough! “After just a few months, I knelt down on my knees in my little thatched roof grass hut and prayed, ‘Lord, I believe You called me. I

believe Your hand is on my life. But I just don’t have what it takes. I need more of You, Lord!’ “I just kept praying that way whenever I could. But one day I felt
desperate, and I cried out in prayer, ‘Lord, I can’t go on! I know You sent me, and I hate to disappoint the people who are supporting me. But unless I get more of You, I’m going to have to give up and go home!'”
The missionary continued, “Suddenly I started speaking strange-sounding words, just like these people here are speaking, and later I started singing those same strange words. I got so joyous and happy doing it that I thought, God gave me something to help me along! I
didn’t know it was a gift available to everyone! But every day since then
for the past 37 years, I’ve gotten alone with God and communicated with Him in that strange language. And I often sing that way too! It just builds me up and blesses me so much!” This missionary woman’s testimony shows that it doesn’t
matter so much whether a person knows what to call the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. The main
thing is to receive this supernatural blessing! I remember hearing another testimony along that line, this time from a Full Gospel missionary. He told me about a time when he was invited to preach at a denominational church in the capital city of an African nation. The elderly pastor of the church was an American who had been there for 35 years without ever returning to the United States. The Pentecostal missionary decided to preach a salvation message instead of a subject like
the Holy Ghost that might be controversial. This church had one of those old-time “mourner’s benches” at
the front of the sanctuary where people would gather around to pray. After the missionary’s salvation message, seven people came forward to the altar to pray for salvation. The Pentecostal missionary told me, “I didn’t even pray with those seven individuals. The church altar workers gathered around them, and then the pastor invited all the Christians to
come around the altar and pray as well. Then three of the seven who came to get saved suddenly began speaking with other tongues! “I thought, Dear Lord, I’ve messed up here! So I ran over to the
pastor and tried to apologize. I said, ‘Brother, I didn’t want to create any problems. I just preached a salvation message! I didn’t mean to start something.’ “The pastor asked me, ‘What are you talking about?’ “I replied, ‘Well, those three believers are speaking with other tongues. They got filled with the Holy Ghost!’ “The denominational pastor exclaimed, ‘Is that what you Pentecostal people call the baptism in the Holy Ghost? Why, for the past 35 years, all my converts have experienced that! We just call it “getting sanctified”!'”

Well, whatever people call the baptism in the Holy Ghost, God has made this precious gift available to all who call on His Name! Any believer anywhere just has to be hungry for more of God and get filled with the Spirit!

Henotace Team

David Oshin is a Content Creator || Full stack Web Developer||Podcast Host || Digital Marketing Strategist. He is very passionate about UNITY of the body of Christ.

Leave a Reply