Category: Daily Devotionals – Smith Wigglesworth

October 18

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. — 2 Peter 1:3

Scripture reading: 2 Peter 1:2–17

On the Day of Pentecost, it was necessary that the disciples received not only the fire but also the rushing wind, the personality of the Spirit in the wind. (See Acts 2:1–4.) The manifestation of the glory is in the wind, or breath, of God.

The inward man receives the Holy Spirit instantly with great joy and blessedness. He cannot express it. Then the power of the Spirit, this breath of God, takes of the things of Jesus (see John 16:14–15) and sends forth as a river the utterances of the Spirit. Again, when the body is filled with joy, sometimes so inexpressible, the canvas of the mind has great power to move the operation of the tongue to bring out the very depths of the inward heart‘s power, love, and joy to us. By the same process, the Spirit, which is the breath of God, brings forth the manifestation of the glory.

Let us look at a few passages in the Bible that pertain to the glory. The first is Psalm 16:9: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices.” Something has made the rejoicing bring forth the glory. It was because the psalmist‘s heart was glad.

The second one is Psalm 108:1: “O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.” You see, when the body is filled with the power of God, then the only thing that can express the glory is the tongue. Glory is presence, and the presence always comes by the tongue, which brings forth the revelations of God. God first brings His power into us. Then He gives us verbal expressions by the same Spirit, the outward manifestation of what is within us. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Virtue has to be transmitted, and glory has to be expressed. Therefore, The Holy Spirit understands everything Christ has in the glory and brings through the heart of man God‘s latest thought. The world‘s needs, our manifestations, revivals, and all conditions are first settled in heaven, then worked out on the
earth. We must be in touch with God Almighty in order to bring out on the face of the earth all the things that God has in the heavens. This is an ideal for us, and may God help us not to forsake the reality of holy communion with Him, of entering into private prayer so that publicly He may manifest His glory.

Thought for today: By filling us with the Holy Spirit, God has brought into us this glory so that out of us may come forth the glory.

October 17

His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” — Matthew 25:21

Scripture reading: Matthew 25:14–30

Christ, who is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3), has come to our human weaknesses in order to change them and us into a divine likeness so that, by the power of His might, we may not only overcome but also rejoice in the fact that we are more than overcomers. God wants you to be “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). The baptism of the Spirit has come for nothing less than to possess the whole of our lives. It sets up Jesus as King, and nothing can stand in His holy presence when He is made King. Everything will wither before Him. The inheritance of the Spirit is given to every man “for the profit of all” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Praise the Lord! In the order of the Holy Spirit, we have to “come short in no gift” (1 Corinthians 1:7).

This same Jesus has come for one purpose: that He might be made so manifest in us that the world will see Him. We must be burning and shining lights to reflect such a holy Jesus. We cannot do it with cold, indifferent experiences, and we never will. My dear wife used to say to our daughter, “Alice, what kind of a meeting have you had?” Alice would say, “Ask Father. He always has a good time!” His servants are to be flames. Jesus is life, and the Holy Spirit is the breath. He breathes through us the life of the Son of God, and we give it to others, and it gives life everywhere.

You should have been with me in Ceylon! I was having meetings in a Wesleyan chapel. The people there said, “You know, four days are not much to give us.” “No,” I said, “but it is a good share.” They said, “What are we going to do? We are not touching the people here at all.” I said, “Can you have a meeting early in the morning, at eight o‘clock?” They said they would, so I said, “We will tell all the mothers who want their babies to be healed and all the old people over seventy to come. Then after that, I will hope to give an address to the people to make them ready for the Holy Spirit.”

Oh, it would have done you all good to see four hundred mothers there with their babies! It was fine! And then to see one hundred and fifty old black people, with their white hair, coming to be healed. I believe that you need to have something more than smoke to touch people; you need to be a burning light for that. His ministers must be flames of fire. There were thousands gathered outside the chapel to hear the Word of God. There were about three thousand people crying for mercy at the same time. I tell you, it was a sight.

After that, attendance at the meetings rose to such an extent that every night, five to six thousand people gathered there after I had preached in a temperature of 110 degrees. Then I had to minister to these people. But I tell you, a flame of fire can do anything. Things change in the fire. This is Pentecost. But what moved me more than anything else was this (and I say this carefully and with a broken spirit because I would not like to mislead anybody): there were hundreds who tried to touch me because they were so impressed with the power of God that was present. And they testified everywhere that with a touch, they were healed. It was not the power of Wigglesworth. It was because they had the same faith that was with those at Jerusalem who believed that Peter‘s shadow would heal them. (See Acts 5:14–15.)

What do you want? Is anything too hard for God? God can meet you now. God sees inwardly. He knows all about you. Nothing is hidden from Him, and He can satisfy the soul and give you a spring of eternal blessing that will carry you right through.

Thought for today: You can receive something in three minutes that you can carry with you into glory.

October 16

[He] makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire. — Hebrews 1:7

Scripture reading: Hebrews 1

God‘s ministers are to be flames of fire! It seems to me that no man with a vision, especially a vision by the Spirit‘s power, can read that wonderful verse without being kindled to such a flame of fire for his Lord that it seems as if it would burn up everything that would interfere with his progress.

A flame of fire! It is a perpetual fire; a constant fire; a continual burning; a holy, inward flame; which is exactly what God‘s Son was in the world. God has nothing less for us than to be flames! It seems to me that if Pentecost is to rise and be effective, we must have a living faith so that Christ‘s great might and power can flow through us until our lives become energized, moved, and aflame for God.

The important point here is that the Holy Spirit has come to make Jesus King. It seems to me that the seed, the life that was given to us when we believed—which is an eternal seed—has such resurrection power that I see a new creation rising from it with kingly qualities. Not only is the King to be within us, but also all the glories of His kingly manifestations are to be brought forth in us. Oh, for Him to work in us in this way, melting us, until a new order rises within us so that we are moved with His compassion! I see that we can come into the order of God where the vision becomes so much brighter and where the Lord is manifesting His glory with all His virtues and gifts; all His glory seems to fill the soul who is absolutely dead to himself and alive to God. There is much talk about death, but there is a death that is so deep in God that, out of that death, God brings the splendor of His life and all His glory.

An opportunity to be a flame of fire for God came when I was traveling from Egypt to Italy. What I now tell you truly happened. On the ship and everywhere, God had been with me. A man on the ship suddenly collapsed; his wife was in a terrible state, and everybody else seemed to be, too. Some said that he would die, but oh, to be a flame, to have the living Christ dwelling within you!

We are backslidden if we have to pray for power, if we have to wait until we feel a sense of His presence. The baptism of the Holy Spirit has come upon you: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). Within you is a greater power than there is in the world (1 John 4:4). Oh, to be awakened out of our unbelief into a place of daring for God on the authority of the blessed Book!

So in the name of Jesus, I rebuked the devil, and to the astonishment of the man‘s wife and the man himself, he was able to stand. He said, “What is this? It is going all over me. I have never felt anything like this before.” From the top of his head to the soles of his feet, the power of God shook him. God has given us authority over the power of the Devil. Oh, that we may live in the place where the glory excels! It would make anyone a flame of fire.

Thought for today: When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, it is to crown Jesus King in our lives.

October 15

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. — 2 Corinthians 10:4

Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 10

People ask, “Do all speak with tongues?” Certainly not. But all people may speak as the Spirit gives utterance—as in the Upper Room and at the house of Cornelius and at Ephesus when Jesus‘ followers were filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is quite a difference between having a gift and speaking as the Spirit gives utterance. If I had been given the gift of tongues when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, then I could have spoken in tongues at any time, because gifts and calling remain (Romana 11:29). But I couldn‘t speak in tongues after I was baptized. Why? It was because I had received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, but I hadn‘t received the gift of tongues.

However, I received the Holy Spirit, who is the Giver of all gifts. And nine months afterward, God gave me the gift of tongues so that I could speak in tongues at any time. But do I? God forbid! Why? Because no man ought to use a gift; the Holy Spirit uses the gift.

I have a reason for talking like this. People come up to me all the time and say, “I have been prayed for, and I am just the same.” It is enough to make you kick them. I don‘t mean that literally. I would be the last man to kick anybody in this place. God forbid. But if I can get you enraged against the powers of darkness and the powers of disease, if I can wake you up, you won‘t go to bed unless you prove that there is a Master in you who is greater than the power that is hanging around you.

Many times I have gone to a house in which an insane person lived and have been shut in with him in order to deliver him. I have gone in determined that he would be delivered. In the middle of the night chiefly, sometimes in the middle of the day, the demon powers would come and bite me and handle me terribly roughly. But I never gave in. It would dethrone a higher principle if I had to give in.

May the God of grace and mercy strengthen us. In the measure that we destroy these evil powers, we make it easier for weak believers. For every time Satan overcomes a saint, it gives him ferocity for another attack; but when he is subdued, he will come to the place where defeat is written against him.

In your home, with your spouse and children, you will have audacity of determination, along with a righteous indignation, against the power of disease to cast it out. That is worth more to you than anything you could buy.

Thought for today: No one can have a knowledge of an inward Christ without having a longing that there will be an increase of souls saved.

October 14

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. — Romans 15:2

Scripture reading: Romans 14:12–15:2

If it is only a finger or a tooth that aches, if it is only a corn on your foot that pinches you or anything in the body that detracts from the highest spiritual attainment, the kingdom of heaven is dethroned to a degree; “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Matthew 11:12).

By the Word of God, I am proving to you that the kingdom of heaven is within you. “Greater is he that is in you” (1 John 4:4 KJV) — the Son of God, the kingdom of heaven within you — “than he that is in the world” (v. 4 KJV) — the power of Satan outside you.

Disease or weakness, or any distraction in you, is a power of violence that can take the kingdom of heaven in you by force. The same spiritual power that will reveal this to you, will relieve you.

On the authority of the Word of God, I maintain that “greater is he that is in you” (1 John 4:4 KJV) than any power of Satan that is around you (v. 4). How much more would be done if you would inwardly claim your rights and deliver yourselves!

I believe the Bible from front to back. If, by the power of God, I put in you an audacity, a determination, so that you won‘t let Satan rest, you will be victorious. Praise the Lord!

Why do I take this attitude? Because for every step of my life since my baptism, I have had to pay the price of everything for others. God has to take me through to the place so that I may be able to show the people how to do it. Some people come up to me and say, “I have been waiting for the baptism, and I am having such a struggle. I am having to fight for every inch of it. Isn‘t it strange?” No. A thousand to one, God is preparing you to help somebody else who is desiring to receive it.

The reason I am so firm about the necessity of getting the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and about the significance of the Spirit‘s making a manifestation when He comes in, is this: I fought it. I went to a meeting because I had heard people were speaking in tongues there. I forced myself on the attention of those in the
meeting almost like a man who was mad. I told the people there, “This meeting of yours is nothing. I have left better conditions at home. I am hungry and thirsty for something.”

“What do you want?” they asked.

“I want tongues.”

“You want the baptism?” they asked.

“Not I,” I said. “I have the baptism. I want tongues.”

I could have had a fight with anybody. The whole situation was this: God was training me for something else. The power of God fell upon my body with such ecstasy of joy that I could not satisfy the joy within with my natural tongue; then I found the Spirit speaking through me in other tongues.

What did it mean? I knew that I had had anointings of joy before this, and expressions of the blessed attitude of the Spirit of life, and joy in the Holy Spirit; I had felt it all the way through my life. But when the fullness came with a high tide, with an overflowing life, I knew that was different from anything else. And I knew that was the baptism, but God had to show me.

Thought for today: The Bible won‘t have an atom of power in you if you don‘t put it into practice in yourself.

October 13

For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. — Psalm 91:11

Scripture reading: Psalm 91

I have looked through my Bible, and I cannot find where God brings disease and sickness. I know it is the power of God that brings the glory. Yet it is the Devil and not God at all who brings sickness and disease. Why does he? I know this: Satan is God‘s whip, and if you don‘t obey God, God will stand to one side and Satan will devour you. But God will only allow him to devour so much, as was the case with Job. The Lord told Satan, “You may go only so far, and no further. Don‘t touch his life.” (See Job 2:6.)

Why is Satan allowed to bring sickness? It is because we know better than we act. If we would be true to our convictions and walk according to the light we have been given, God would verify His presence in the midst of us, and we would know that sickness cannot “come near [our] dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over [us], to keep [us] in all [our] ways” (Psalm 91:10–11).

When Satan can get to your body, he will, if possible, make the pain or the weakness so distracting that it will affect your mind and always bring your mind down to where the pain is. When that takes place, you do not have the same freedom in your spirit to lift up your heart and shout and praise the Lord. The distraction of the pain brings the foundational power, which ought to be full of praise to God, down into the body. And through that—concerning everybody who is afflicted—“the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Matthew 11:12).

Thought for today: Anything that takes me from a position where I am in an attitude of worship, peace, and joy; where I have a consciousness of the presence of God; where there is an inward moving of the powers of God that makes me able to lift myself up and live in the world as though I were not of it (because I am not of it); anything that dethrones me from that attitude is evil, is satanic.

October 12

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. — Psalm 107:6

Scripture reading: Psalm 50

Does God know all about you? Is He acquainted with you altogether? Why should you, under any circumstances, believe that you will be better off by being diseased? When disease is impurity, why should you ever believe that you will be sanctified by having a great deal of sickness?

Some people talk about God being pleased to put disease on His children. “Here is a person I love,” says God. “I will break his arm. Then, so that he will love Me more, I will break his leg. So that he will love Me even more, I will give him a weak heart.”

The whole thing won‘t stand daylight. Yet people are always talking this way, and they never think to read the Word of God, which says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray” (Psalm 19:67). They have never read the following words into their lives:

Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. (Psalm 107:17–19)

Is it right to say, “You know, my brother, I have suffered so much in this affliction that it has made me know God better?” Well, now, before you agree, ask God for a lot more affliction so that you will get to know Him still better. If you won‘t ask for more affliction to make you still purer, I won‘t believe that the first affliction made you purer, because if it had, you would have more faith in it. It appears that you do not have faith in your afflictions. It is only talk, but talk doesn‘t count unless it is backed up by fact. However, if people can see that your words are backed up by fact, then they have some grounds for believing in them.

Thought for today: Why not trust God who knows all about you, instead of trusting in people who know only what you have told them?

October 11

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. — Ephesians 6:10–11

Scripture reading: Ephesians 6:10–20

There is a power in you that is greater than any other power. By the help of the Spirit, may you come into a place of deliverance, a place of holy sanctification, where you dare to stand against the Devil‘s‘ schemings, drive them back, and cast them out. May the Lord help us!

I want God to give you an inward awakening, a revelation of truth within you, an audacity, a flaming indignation against the powers of Satan.

Lot had a righteous indignation—temporarily—but it came too late. He ought to have had it when he went into Sodom, not when he was coming out. But I don‘t want any one of you to be dejected because you didn‘t take a step in the right direction sooner. Always be thankful that you are alive to hear and to change the situation.

You must gain an inward knowledge that God is Lord over all the power of Satan. I don‘t doubt your sincerity about being saved, about having been justified in Christ. It is not for me to question a man‘s sincerity regarding his righteousness. Yet I feel I have a right to say that there is a deeper sincerity to reach for; there is a greater audacity of faith and fact to attain. There is something that you have to wake up to where you will never allow disease to have you or sin to have you or a weak heart or a pain in your back to have you. You will never allow anything that isn‘t perfect life to have anything to do with you. Those who try to serve two masters always lose (Matthew 6:24). If you try to join up with two things—the Lord and the Devil—the Devil will get you in the end. Allow Christ to be the Lord of your life today.

Thought for today: You are not going to oppose devils if you cannot master yourself, because you will soon find the devils to be bigger than yourself.

October 10

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. — Matthew 11:12

Scripture reading: Matthew 11:25–30

This is a message to every believer. Every believer has the life of the Lord in him. And if Jesus, “who is our life” (Colossians 3:4), were to come, instantly our life would go out to meet His life because we exist by and consist of the life of the Son of God. (See verse 4.) “Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (v. 3).

If all believers understood this wonderful passage that is in the twenty-second chapter of Luke‘s gospel, there would be great joy in their hearts:

Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15–16)

Everyone who is in Christ Jesus will be there when He sits down the first time to break bread in the kingdom of heaven. It is not possible for any child of God to remain on earth when Jesus comes. May the Lord help us to believe it.

I know there is a great deal of speculation on the Rapture and on the coming of the Lord. But let me tell you to hope for edification and comfort, for the Scripture by the Holy Spirit won‘t let me focus on anything except the edification, consolation, and comfort of the Spirit. (See 1 Corinthians 14:3.)

I don‘t mean that we are to cover up sin. God won‘t let us do that. But we must unveil truth. And what is truth? The Word of God is the truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39).

What does the truth say? It says that when Christ appears, all who are His at His coming will be changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). We will be presented at the same moment as all those who have fallen asleep in Him, and we will all go together.

We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep….And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15–18)

For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. (Luke 22:18)

Two thousand years will soon have passed since the Lord broke bread around the table with His disciples. I am longing, the saints are longing, for the grand union when millions, billions, trillions will unite with Him in that great fellowship Supper. Praise the Lord! But now, what stimulation, what power must be working every day until that Day appears!

Thought for today: Every believer belongs to the kingdom of heaven.

October 9

Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another? — Matthew 11:3

Scripture reading: Matthew 11:12–24

I want you to see how satanic power can work in the mind. Satan came to John when he was in prison. I find that Satan can come to any of us.

But I want to prove that we have a greater power than Satan‘s—in imagination, in thought, in everything. Satan came to John the Baptist in prison and said to him, “Don‘t you think you have made a mistake? Here you are in prison. Isn‘t there something wrong with the whole business? After all, you may be greatly deceived about being a forerunner of the Christ.”

I find men who might be giants of faith, who might be leaders of society, who might rise to subdue kingdoms (Hebrews 11:33), who might be noble among princes, but they are defeated because they allow the suggestions of Satan to dethrone their better knowledge of the power of God. May God help us.

John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are You the Messiah?” How could Jesus send those men back with a stimulating truth, with a personal, effective power that would stir their hearts to know that they had met Him about whom all the prophets had spoken? What would declare it? How would they know? How could they tell it?

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Matthew 11:4–5)

And when they saw the miracles and wonders and heard the gracious words He spoke as the power of God rested upon Him, they were ready to believe.

Thought for today: Unless we are filled, or divinely insulated, with the power of God, we may be defeated by the power of Satan.