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Smith Wigglesworth’s “Dare to Believe God”

Smith Wigglesworth was a British plumber who reached the world as an evangelist.  His ministry spanned several continents and touched thousands.  He was able to minister in the U.S., New Zealand,  South Africa, India, Ceylon and several European countries.  His blessing to the body of Christ was his healing ministry.  He was illiterate until adulthood.  His wife taught him how to read and he began preaching when he received the filling of the Holy Spirit.

He was an unabashed Pentecostal/Charismatic and shared the importance of the gifts of the Spirit. Many miraculous deeds occurred including his own healing and description of how Christ made him whole.  He was often quoted as one who knew much about the walk of faith.

I bring an excerpt from his book: On Spirit-Filled Living entitled Dare to Believe God:
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for”(Heb 11:1) right here is this life.  It is here that God wants to share in His divine nature.  It is nothing less than the life of the Lord Himself imparted and flowing into our whole beings  . .  When the woman who had suffered for twelve years from a flow of blood was healed, Jesus perceived that power had gone out of Him (Mark 5:25 – 34).  The woman’s faith reached out, and and His power was imparted.  Immediately, the woman’s being was charged with life, and her weakness departed.  The conveying of this power produces everything you need, but it comes only as your faith reaches out to accept it.  Faith is the victory.  If you can believe, the healing power is yours.

I suffered many years from hemorrhoids, until my whole body was thoroughly weak; the blood used to gush from me.  One day I got desperate and took a bottle of oil to anoint myself.  I said to the Lord, “Do what you want to, quickly.”  I was healed at that very moment.
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Groaning Part II

For all of creation is waiting, yearning for the time when the children of God will be revealed. 20 You see, all of creation has collapsed into emptiness, not by its own choosing, but by God’s. Still He placed within it a deep and abiding hope 21 that creation would one day be liberated from its slavery to corruption and experience the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that all creation groans in unison with birthing pains up until now. Romans 8:19-21 [Voice]
I watched Luc Beeson’s Lucy the second time and though I didn’t think the film remarkable the first time, It certainly reminded me of the verses above and the interest in becoming more than we are. It is indeed fascinating to watch this theme reoccur time after time. The distinguishing characteristic being that this film much like Neil Burger’s Limitless reinserted the human capacity being limited by their functional access to their larger brain capacity.
As told in the film’s narrative, most of us use approximately 10% of our brain’s capacity. The film’s hypothesis ventures that additional brain capacity supplemented by a synthetic compound found in new mothers and transferred to their newborn. The Limitless film proffers a newly devised recreational drug that does the same thing. The capacity increase allows the people to interact with matter differently, to absorb information at an incredible rate and to influence others in a myriad of ways.
Christ came to earth and in his time he exhibited special abilities documented in the Gospels. These abilities helped illustrate the fact that he was Messiah but the Jews were expressly waiting for a warrior King, not a servant. These special abilities allowed him to serve the people and to create the nucleus of the Kingdom movement (or the church). They are also documented in I Corinthians 12:8-12
” 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same[b]Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” [NKJV]
How amazing is it that these fiction writers end up giving their characters abilities that compare quite favorably to the spiritual gifts described above in attempts to assist or even save the entire human race!
Some naysayer will say that there have been many myths and stories of the one life-giver and hero. To that, we say our Savior has been the most famous and influencial person of all time. And that each person he has given life to has their own story of how great he is. Now run and tell that . . .