HOLY SPIRIT,

I Hunger for You

HOLY SPIRIT,
I Hunger for You

CLAUDIO FREIDZON
 Dedicated...

To the Lord Jesus Christ for saving me just in time.

To my wife, Betty, for all the years of love and
unconditional support.

To my children, Daniela, Sebastian, and Ezequiel, for

sharing our ministry to the nations and sacrificing
part of our family time.
 Acknowledgments

I WOULD LIKE to thank my associate

pastors, Marcelo Doynel, Sergio Marquet, and
Daniel Perotti, for their devotion and daily
work in our church.

Thanks also to my brothers and sisters in the

King of Kings Church for their love and unity
of vision.
 Contents

Foreword xi

Preface xiii

Introduction xix

1 The School in the Desert 1

2 Move Forward 29

3 "I Want That Fire!" 43

4 Deeper Into the River 61

5 The Wonders of God 79

6 Just a Teaspoon 101

7 Accustomed to the Glory of God 1 17

8 Transformed Into the Glory 133

9 Forever in the Glory 153

10 A Passion for God 177

 Foreword

FROM THE FIRST moment I met Claudio Freidzon I

knew I had met a man who was hungry for more of
God. He first visited Orlando several months after
Good Morning, Holy Spirit had been translated into
Spanish. I was informed that a minister from
Argentina who was present in the church service had
requested that I pray with him.

During the Sunday evening service I laid my hands

on him and prayed that the anointing of the Holy
Spirit would rest upon his life and ministry, and that
God would do a great work through him in
Argentina.

In the months that followed, I began to hear

amazing reports from friends in the ministry about
the way God was using Claudio in great rallies in
Argentina. As he presented a message of the
transforming power of the Holy Spirit, revival swept
the country. What had begun as a personal work of
the Holy Spirit in Claudio's life because of his spiritual
hunger was now affecting others.

My next encounter with Claudio Freidzon was at

one of our miracle crusades in the United States.
Several pastors from Argentina accompanied him to
witness the power of God in action. More than two
thousand ministers from Argentina had attended the
miracle crusades to witness the power of God
firsthand.

R. A. Torrey once said, "Before one can correctly

understand the work of the Holy Spirit, he must first
of all know the Spirit Himself." I have seen this
become a reality in the life of Claudio Freidzon. He
told me that from the moment he first began to read
Good Morning, Holy Spirit, something deep within
him cried out, "Holy Spirit, I'm hungry to know You."

Claudio Freidzon knows the Holy Spirit, and the

evidence of that relationship can be seen through his
anointed ministry. Not only is he my friend but
Claudio is a man of God who knows the voice of the
Spirit and ministers with power and authority.

The pages of this book contain the story of

Claudio's quest to know the Holy Spirit, along with
the fulfillment and fellowship that come as a result of
having a personal relationship with Him. His personal
account of his journey to satisfy this deep hunger
within will be an inspiration to you. That same
transforming power is available to you, too, when
you welcome the Holy Spirit into your life by saying,
"Holy Spirit, I hunger for You."

-Benny Hinn
 Preface

From the diary of the superintendent of the union of

the Assemblies of God in Argentina:

April 1992

I just had lunch with Pastor Claudio Freidzon and his

wife. They told me about a new moving of the Holy
Spirit in their church-new to them and at the same
time a marvelous experience. They said that when the
brethren are touched by God, some fall to the
ground, and others start laughing. These and other
manifestations take place within a setting of deep
worship. After lunch we agreed to meet again.

July 1992
It's been four months since I last talked with Claudio
Freidzon. Today-Thursday-my wife, Isabel, and I are
going to visit his church to see and evaluate what's
happening; so many stories have reached my office
concerning the King of Kings Church that I've
decided to evaluate the situation personally.

We left our car at a parking lot located a hundred

meters from the church. As we started walking
toward the church building we noticed that our legs
were trembling. We thought it was just suggestion
because of the comments we'd heard. As we entered
we noticed the place was crowded, and people were
outside hoping to get in. There was no more room
for anyone else. An usher recognized us and took us
to the front row on the right wing of the auditorium.
People were standing, singing, jumping... and
hugging each other in a spirit of unity.

Claudio Freidzon asked, "Do you want to receive

more?" A loud yes like the sound of rushing waters
broke out from the people. Immediately he shouted,
"Receive it," and half the congregation fell to the floor
laughing, some of them with an expression of
drunkenness.

He then called to the platform some fifty children

who were in the meeting with their parents and asked
them, "Do you want to receive from God?" They
answered with a very loud yes. When the pastor
prayed with raised hands, all these children fell on the
platform, looking as if they were asleep but with a
smile on their faces. I couldn't find a logical
explanation for what was happening and prayed to
God, "Lord, if this is from You, please tell me so." It
was then that Claudio Freidzon began to walk among
the people, praying for them. I opened my eyes and
saw my wife falling to the floor as he laid his hand on
her head.

Then he came up to me, embraced me, and prayed,

"Father, bless this servant of Yours." Right then
something covered me from head to foot. I had a
pleasant feeling of dizziness. I had a feeling of great
joy. When I opened my eyes I was lying on the floor.
I attempted to get up but couldn't, and I think I didn't
want to move lest I should lose that joy.

When my wife and I left the meeting we felt such

joy that night we could hardly sleep. Lying in my bed
I prayed in tongues till dawn.

September 1992
The second session with the general presbytery was
held, Claudio Freidzon being one of the presbyters.
During this session he told us that some pastors from
the interior of the country had had similar
experiences in their churches after having
participated in his meetings.

That evening most of the presbyters stayed to

attend the evening service at Pastor Freidzon's
church.

The following day, when we resumed the

presbyterial meeting, the only subject of conversation
was each one's experiences the night before:
experiences of joy, laughter, anointing, and dizziness.

They recounted the experiences they'd had together

with two hundred other pastors who'd also been
present.

December 1992

At the National Conference of the Union of the

Assemblies of God in the city of Mar del Plata,
Argentina, there were so many testimonies from
pastors who'd been ministered to by Claudio Freidzon
that it would be impossible to recount them all. I shall
limit the number to a very few, omitting names for
the sake of privacy:

• Pastors who were suffering from deep

depression were completely delivered.

• Others, who were exhausted and had been

advised by their doctors to discontinue their
ministries, were renewed by the Holy Spirit
and expressed a desire to continue, feeling as
if they were starting life all over again.

• Discouraged ministers whose congregations

had for years numbered sixty or seventy
members now have up to four or five
hundred members and have experienced the
flow of the gifts of the Spirit in their lives.
An extraordinary enthusiasm urges them on.

Stadiums, auditoriums, and other places have been

filled with souls thirsting after God. Claudio held a
meeting in the large Luna Park Arena in Buenos
Aires, and it was packed twice in succession. The
people who were waiting outside the arena
outnumbered those who were already inside. Our
estimation is that fifty thousand people gathered to
have an encounter with the Holy Spirit on this
occasion.

My own ministry has been enriched by this

anointing of the Holy Spirit flowing through the
ministry of Claudio Freidzon. My church, whose
membership was four hundred at the time, shot up to
eight hundred fifty in a matter of six months. My
own children were changed in a remarkable manner.
Two of my daughters, seventeen and fifteen years
old, were baptized by the Holy Spirit and called to the
ministry. The older one has enrolled in seminary and
the younger one, who is finishing her secondary
school studies, is also planning to go to seminary to
prepare for service.

This change began one night when Claudio

Freidzon prayed for them. My son, eight years old,
who is very fond of soccer, has quit his soccer
practice to spend time in church. He prays and seeks
God like never before. I thank God for this
wonderful ministry which changes lives, ministers,
and churches; I feel sure it will affect the whole
country.

May 1993

At present Claudio Freidzon travels to different

countries with this ministry of experiences and fruit
of the Holy Spirit. He has visited a number of cities in
the United States, Germany, Canada, Spain, Australia,
and other countries.

I have known Claudio since 1973. He sought the

Lord and made the decision to serve Him when he
was a young man. His first pastoral service in a
Buenos Aires district proved to be a very difficult
one, but the Lord led him to the Belgrano district.
Through his life the Holy Spirit established a church
there that has learned to fast, pray, and practice the
necessary fellowship with God-who in later years
would uphold Claudio throughout a really marvelous
ministry.

Today this ministry of the Holy Spirit is winning

thousands of souls for Christ's kingdom. It is
restoring pastors, healing the sick, assigning gifts,
and bringing to the churches the princes and kings of
which the prophet Isaiah spoke: professionals,
managers, businessmen and women, government
officials, congressmen, and media managers. Even
the president of the Argentine Republic uses Bible
texts in his speeches and finishes his public
dissertations with the phrase, "God bless you."
December 1993

Claudio Freidzon was invited to minister to the

Annual General Conference of the Union of the
Assemblies of God. There was great expectation
among pastors. At the conclusion of the conference
many pastors went back to their churches with new
hope and a new vision. The Lord really used Pastor
Freidzon. We have confirmed his ministry. The Union
of the Assemblies of God backs his life and ministry.

For me, personally, as superintendent of the Union

of the Assemblies of God, it is an honor to be
represented in different parts of the world by Claudio
Freidzon, not only as a pastor but also as an
Argentine.

God bless his life, his family, and his church.

-Reverend Jose Manuel Carlos

 Introduction

SOME YEARS ago God challenged me to start living

out a new phase in my relationship with Him. My
eyes were opened as never before to the reality of the
Holy Spirit. The key that I felt I had been lacking was
finally in my hands, and with it I was able to gain
access to heaven's treasures. My personal
relationship with the Holy Spirit began to occupy first
place in my life.

Even though many people expressed their

enthusiasm for our worship service, in my inner
being I was still unsatisfied. I used to run home,
kneel down, and pray, "Lord, I know there is more,
that there are untapped rivers and springs. I hunger
for You. I need to know You better...." And God led
me to this new relationship; a relationship which I
presently enjoy, a relationship in which I long to
continue to grow.

This fellowship with God changed my life and my

ministry. I was radically transformed. My experience
was so strong that for whole nights I did not sleep in
order to be with Him. When the Holy Spirit fills us,
everything becomes fresh, and we feel renewed. God
seeks people who will hunger for the Holy Spirit,
those who have a passion for getting to know Him.

Paul the Apostle went through wonderful

experiences with the Lord. Throughout his ministry,
he was in touch daily with the supernatural. Yet his
eyes and his deepest longings were set on the very
person of God. His aim was to know Christ. And for
this consuming passion, he was prepared to give up
everything else.

That same passion is what should characterize all

Christians so that we may seek God's face. We are to
burn with the same fire that burned in Paul, in
Jeremiah, and in Moses. They were not satisfied with
themselves. They always wanted more. They
hungered for God and longed to see His glory.

The people of Israel walked in the light of the divine

Presence in a powerful way. Nevertheless, in the
course of their pilgrimage through the desert, they
did not seek to love and obey God. How different
Moses' attitude was! The people shouted, "We want
water! We want food!" But Moses prayed, "Show me
Your glory. I want to know You. I want You." Psalm
103:7 says concerning a revelation of God: "He made
known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of
Israel." Have you stopped to think why Moses-not
the people-was given this knowledge? For a very
simple reason: Moses asked for it. According to
Exodus 33:13, he cried out, "If I have found favor in
your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you."
And God did so. The Lord longs to reveal Himself in
a glorious manner to us; but it will depend on how
much we hunger for the Holy Spirit.

It is my earnest prayer that as you come to the end

of this book, a renewed love for God will be born
within you, an unquenchable desire to know Him and
be with Him. And I pray that you may also cry out
from the depths of your innermost being, "Holy
Spirit, I hunger for You," knowing that new times
have begun for you.

-Claudio Freidzon
 1

The School in the

Desert

THE STADIUM of the Velez Sarsfield Athletic Club is

an imposing mass of cement which rises up from
Liniers, a picturesque district of the city of Buenos
Aires. This densely populated business district has
heavy traffic going in and out from the federal capital
to the surrounding communities.

The stadium was renovated and enlarged in

preparation for the 1978 World Cup Soccer
Championship in order to seat sixty-five thousand
spectators. I had never imagined that such a place
would become a historic landmark within the
fulfillment of God's plan for my life. Yet on the
evening of April 9, 1993, the stadium overflowed
with people convened by the Holy Spirit to celebrate
an unprecedented spiritual festival.

It was Good Friday. We worked hard in order to be

ready for that moment, and I remember certain
difficulties we had to overcome. With only one week
remaining before the first day of the crusade, the
Velez Sarsfield Club's administrative committee
decided to postpone the event one day. Because of a
last-minute change in the Argentine Soccer
Association, the games were scheduled for the same
Thursday as we had scheduled the crusade.

An inner struggle began in my heart-only one week

in which to announce the new date to the whole
country! Initially we had not felt it advisable to hold
the crusade on Good Friday, since churches usually
organize their own special activities; but now we had
no alternative unless we cancelled the whole
proceedings. It was a step to be taken in faith, but
the Holy Spirit urged me to go ahead.

Finally the day arrived. In spite of the fact that it

was the middle of autumn, the weather could not
have been better. God had granted us a spring day.
 At 2:30 P.M. I called Daniel Perotti, one of my
closest assistants, and asked him, "Daniel, how's
everything? How many people are there?"

He said, "Excellent, Pastor. Crowds are arriving."

He said that because he is a man of faith.

When I asked others, I received a different

reportindeed, a rather pessimistic report. But brave
people see with the eyes of faith and proclaim that
what God has already spoken to their hearts as real.
"I believed; therefore I have spoken" (2 Corinthians
4:13).

But multitudes were actually coming! Coaches

from all over the country were arriving with pastors
and whole congregations. They had cancelled their
own activities in order to join us for an unforgettable
celebration.

The glory of God filled that place, and the things

the Lord did that day were tremendous: miracles,
healings, and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. It was
a beautiful festival. For six, highly intensive hours
that day in autumn we were moved by God in a
marvelous atmosphere of unity and under the glory
of God.
 As a boy my dream was to be a professional soccer
player. Many people thought I had what it took to be
a good player, and this spurred on my dream to come
out on top in the field of sports. But on that April day
in the stadium I found myself walking on the stadium
field before an incredible multitude of over sixty-five
thousand people who were gloriously worshiping
God. It surpassed any of my dreams as a child. I
was playing the most wonderful game as a servant of
the Lord, with the tremendous responsibility of
scoring a few goals against the devil!

As I observed thousands of the Lord's pastors and

workers, arms raised high, drinking from the Holy
Spirit, all I could say was, "Thank You, Lord-this is
Your celebration!" The testimonies of healing
impacted many. Whole grandstands of people were
being moved as the Holy Spirit filled their hearts. We
were conscious of the fact that we were there to
meet with God. Those were hours of deep worship.

Believe me, I had never imagined I would live to

experience such a day. It was like touching heaven. It
was simply amazing!

When God gives a man something ... feu, of us stop

to think about his past... There are often deep roots
 under the more luxuriant trees.

God's plans are astounding. In addition to this

meeting in the Velez Sarsfield Stadium, the Lord
prepared many such revival crusades in different
parts of the world during which miracles occurred.

In El Salvador, where many pastors supported the

event, seventy-five thousand people attended an
unforgettable two-day crusade.

In the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami, eighty

thousand people gathered to receive a fresh anointing
of the Holy Spirit in meetings held during four
consecutive days. It was an unmatched,
unprecedented event for the city. Two hundred
pastors supported this crusade in a wonderful spirit
of unity. The Lord moved powerfully, and healing
miracles were performed. Long lines of people
waited for a turn to give a testimony to the power of
God.

I'll never forget those days in Miami. We greatly

rejoiced to see many people whose tooth cavities
were filled by the Lord Himself? A young drug addict
went forward with tears in his eyes after
surrendering his life to Jesus and spoke from the
platform, saying, "I know my mother is in this place,
and before everyone here I want to ask her
forgiveness for all the hurt I've caused her." It was
moving to see that mother and her son embrace and
forgive each other, healing a broken relationship.

Recently in Madrid, Spain, forty thousand people

crowded into the famous bullring La Plaza de Toros
Monumental for two days. For the first time in its
long history, the Word of God was read in this
traditional Spanish bullring. In many other places we
have seen the glory of God, including Asuncion in
Paraguay; Berlin, Stuttgart, and Ludenscheid in
Germany; Budapest in Hungary; Vienna in Austria;
Montevideo in Uruguay; San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Dallas, and New York in the United States; Toronto in
Canada and meetings in almost every province in
Argentina. In the course of only three years, more
than eight hundred fifty thousand people have taken
part in our crusades! God will never cease to surprise
us.

But not all moments have been glorious ones in my

ministry. When God anoints a man, raising him to a
place of honor, few stop to think about his past-about
the price he had to pay-in order to be placed in that
position.
 I want to talk to you about my roots. I have gone
through much and learned much in the lovely school
of the Holy Spirit. After reading this chapter, you will
not be the same person. You will drop on your face
and praise God for what you are living through.

Believe this, because it is a message from God for

your life.

LORD, IF You REALLY Do EXIST ...

I ADDRESSED THESE words to God one

unforgettable evening in a solitary place: Lord, if You
really do exist ... It was the prayer that changed my
life. But I shall begin my story somewhat earlier.
When I was only nine years old, I went to an
evangelical church. I shall never forget it. A pastor
came up to me and said, "You're going to be a pastor
just like me."

A cold shiver ran down my back. Terrified, I

looked up at him and thought, Never! I wanted to be
a soccer player. If I had to be something else,
becoming a pastor would, without a doubt, be at the
bottom of my list. At nine years of age I was not in a
position to understand theological differences-to me,
to be a cloistered monk or an evangelical pastor were
one and the same. I left that church in a state of
shock.

When I was just a young man, my mother was

converted to Jesus Christ. She had been emotionally
destroyed and sunk in depression as a consequence
of her own mother's death. One day, however, she
arrived home from church with a radiant face. She
said to me, "Claudio, Christ has saved me. Now I'm a
Christian, and you must come to church with me."

"Not even if I were mad could you make me go!" I

responded vehemently. But she did not protest. All
she did was get on her knees and cry out for my
salvation. Finally, with reservation, I accepted her
invitation to attend church. I slipped into the small
church one Sunday and sat as close to the back as I
could, ready to run out at my earliest chance. As I
settled into the seat, sixty people (almost the entire
congregation) turned to look at me.

In those years churches were often small and

seldom made up of more than fifty members.
Growth was extremely slow. The arrival of a new
person was quite an event. All eyes were on me. The
people came over to greet me, acting as though they
cared for me. Hypocrites, I thought. They just want
to trap me!

My heart had become very hard. But I continued to

attend the meetings. One night the young people in
the church invited me to play Ping-Pong with them
after the service. "No, thank you," I told them. "The
world's waiting for me."

Life for me was limited to very few activities:

studying and working, going out and having a good
time with my friends on weekends, and perhaps
watching a soccer game at a stadium on Sundays. By
Sunday evening I was depressed because another
week of activities was about to begin. That really
was the world for me!

My mother shed a lot of tears as she prayed for my

salvation. How true the promise of Psalm 126:5 is:
"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy"
(Psalm 126:5). Little by little I began to give in to the
Holy Spirit.

But something did attract me to church. It was the

joy that I perceived in the faces of the people and the
peaceful look they had. I could not find such peace in
anyone else. My initial skepticism began to give way
as I discovered that the love the people at church
shared with one another was sincere.

I worked at an office where I had an administrative

job. I had started at the bottom of that company with
everyone ordering me to go here and there, to do this
or that, to carry out all kinds of errands. Then I was
promoted and assigned to a desk job. My situation at
work improved considerably. But one day as I started
work, I was suddenly given the bad news that the
person who ran the errands in the city had not turned
up for work. I was to replace him!

I left the office to run the errands, but I wasn't

happy about it. It was raining, and I was supposed to
collect some money for the company which required
traveling to the outskirts of the city, where the open
countryside begins.

I was very angry. My pride was hurt because I had

been demoted. To make things worse, when I arrived
to pick up the money, the person responsible for
payments said to me, "We haven't got the money just
yet. You'll have to come back in three hours."

Three hours! I was stuck in the middle of nowhere.

I was ignorant of the fact that God had prepared that
moment to have a private encounter with me.
 At first I walked aimlessly around the district,
complaining and feeling sorry for myself. Then, little
by little, the Holy Spirit prompted me to raise my
eyes toward heaven and say a prayer. Something in
my life needed to change, and I knew it. I said
honestly, "Lord, if You really do exist, if all that I've
heard and read in Your Word is true, come into my
life. I want to change. I want to have new life." Then
I added, "But I don't want to be simply another
religious person."

In the course of my brief contact with the church I

had noticed such "religious" people, and I did not
want to be like that myself. I continued my prayer,
"If You give me a chance to get to know You, it will
have to be on the condition that I can serve You.
Otherwise, I would rather just remain a worldly
person."

Then and there the glory of God came upon me. I

felt a wind sweep over my face as the Lord Jesus
Christ came into my heart and became my Lord and
Savior. I laughed and jumped in the street. I looked at
the trees and shouted, "How beautiful they are!" I
thanked God for nature, for everything. I felt the life
of God within my being. I was happy, and I
experienced true peace.
 At the end of the three hours, I went to pick up the
money-a completely transformed person. As I got on
the bus that would take me back to the office, I
greeted the driver with a rather unusual measure of
affection: "A very good afternoon to you, mister
driver!" Accustomed to receiving indifference or
aggressiveness from his passengers, he looked at me
as though I were mad. I was reaching out to glory,
and I wanted somehow to share with someone else
what I was living.

I had left the office earlier that day feeling

destroyed, with no objective for my life. I returned
with one purpose: to know and serve Jesus. Glory to
God! From that day on I have not let go of His hand.

The next meeting at the church found me sitting in

the first row, raising my hands to heaven. Nobody
could believe it. The pastor was used to seeing me
sitting in the last row of benches, indifferent to
everything that was going on. He was more surprised
than anybody else.

From the moment of my conversion I made the

decision to dive deep into the river of God. I was
never satisfied with yesterday's victory. I wanted to
follow God's will and continue to advance, taking
everything He had prepared for me according to His
marvelous plan. I soon discovered that plan would
not relieve me from going through a number of
deserts in the course of my preparation.

THE DESERT

IN THE BIBLE, DESERTS have to do with times of

preparation. They are moments of very rich personal
teaching which prepare us in our innermost being to
face the battle.

Remember how the Lord your God led you all

the way in the desert these forty years, to
humble you and to test you in order to know
what was in your heart, whether or not you
would keep his commands. He humbled you,
causing you to hunger and then feeding you
with manna, which neither you nor your
fathers had known, to teach you that man
does not live on bread alone but on every
word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

-Deuteronomy 8:2-3

This is a most profound text. It teaches us

important truths concerning the Holy Spirit's school,
especially the "what for" of trials-the purposes of
God when He takes us out into the desert.

How does God teach us?Through the

circumstances of life we are shaped, cleansed, and
strengthened in our faith.

Before we know the Lord, negative circumstances

defeat us and crush us without mercy. We see no
clear purpose behind them, only our own destruction.
Yet the Bible declares, "And we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according to his purpose"
(Romans 8:28).

We sometimes interpret this text incorrectly and

think that everything will work for my good
according to my purpose, but that is not what it says
here. The Lord states that everything will work out
for good according to His purpose. We must bear in
mind the words of Isaiah 55:9: "As the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The purposes of God for my life became clear in

the following verse: "For those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers" (Romans 8:29, italics added).

God promises those of us who love Him that, in

every circumstance we may have to face, He will be
glorified, imprinting His image (His character, His
holiness) on us and furthering His kingdom. My own
plans and projects may come to naught but never
those of God. "He who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ
Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).

In the desert of trials God deals with our character.

They are times of brokenness so that from one's
inner being the precious perfume of the Spirit may be
released to flow freely.

In the desert of trials God deals with our character.

There were times in my life when I considered

myself to be a failure and an unfortunate person. I
felt very sorry for myself. These times were so very
hard that, humanly speaking, I would rather avoid
bringing them to mind.

Nevertheless, as years go by, God shows me the

value of those moments. I remember them as
precious lessons of God for my life, and I thank the
Lord for them. I now know that failures are also part
of our success.

When I graduated from seminary I had the

impetuosity of every young person. I used to say,
"When an opportunity is offered, I'm going to
preach. Argentina is going to know who Pastor
Claudio Freidzon is." After graduation a missionary
offered me his support so that I could buy property
and open a church in a small district called Parque
Chas with beautiful homes and winding streets in the
city of Buenos Aires.

When my wife and I visited the place, the first

thing we saw was a public square where many
children and young people gathered. We began to
plan an evangelistic campaign. I said to Betty, "In two
or three months we can shake the whole district for
God."

It was 1978, and the country was strongly opposed

to the gospel; but I thought I could do it. I prayed,
"Lord, I don't know how many have graduated from
this seminary, but I am leaving to shake and move the
whole country of Argentina with the gospel
message."
 We placed chairs in the square and began to preach.
Very soon my dreams of success were dashed to the
ground.

Not one person came close enough to hear. Day

after day our chairs remained empty. Someone
suggested, "Why don't you show a film?"

We thought that was a good idea and planned a

series of films. The first night a few little old ladies
came and sat in the first row. A few other neighbors
watched with interest. This gave us hope. They were
good films and offered an opportunity for us to share
a message with the audience at the end of the film.
Feeling enthusiastic, Bible in hand, I waited for the
great moment.

The last film ended. When the lights came on what

a surprise! Everyone left in a hurry, except the poor
old grannies who just did not have the physical ability
to get away. I felt utterly frustrated.

We were not going to accept defeat. I searched for

alternatives. After analyzing the situation, my wife
and I thought that perhaps I had not been quick
enough to jump onto the platform as soon as the film
ended. We tried our plan at home: I would hide
behind a tree with the microphone ready in my hand.
As soon as the film was over, my wife switched on
the lights, and I jumped out from behind the tree and
onto the platform to preach a powerful message!

Many people had come that second night. I was in

my place with the microphone in my hand. At the
moment the lights went on, I jumped to the platform
and shouted, "Don't leave!"

Do you know what happened? Everyone

escapedright in front of me: It was really cruel. The
Lord was surely dealing with my pride.

After three months, my congregation was made up

of my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my wife, and
three grannies. These grannies treated me more like a
grandson than a pastor, and they tried to encourage
me with their affection. They are now with the Lord.

We decided to purchase a building where the

church could meet. The building we found was
almost in front of the square where we had been
meeting. Parque Chas is a residential area, and in the
middle of the district was an old house that was
falling to pieces. Everyone believed it should be torn
down. Great was the surprise in the neighborhood
when people paraded by and read the words
Evangelical Church on it. Our budget did not allow
for more. It became our church building-and our
home!

It had only one room, and in the daytime the room

became the sanctuary. We arranged chairs and a
pulpit and held worship services, sometimes with me
preaching only to my wife. At night we took away
the chairs and put our bed in their place, as well as a
cot for the kids. The house lacked hot water in the
bathroom, and for years we had to bathe by heating
water in pots. The small refrigerator warmed things
up more often than it cooled things down. That was
how we began. Nothing seemed to work out well in
those days.

My financial situation was deplorable. We held

secular jobs to compensate, but very little money
came our way. I felt ashamed that I could not
support Betty and the kids in a more dignified
fashion.

But what hurt me the most was being a pastor, a

shepherd, with no sheep. For seven years my
congregation stayed at seven people. During some
worship services I was completely alone; not even
my wife could be present. Sometimes other pastors
who were friends of ours came to visit and would
find me alone in the meeting. I felt like dying; I
wished I could disappear. I considered myself a
victim. I used to walk among the empty chairs as the
devil laughed and whispered in my ear, "You're no
good; you'll never make any progress; it will always
be like this."

Unfortunately, I believed him. One day I thought,

This isn't for me. I'm going to give up this pastoral
work. I'm going to resume my engineering studies
and get myself a job. But deep down I knew that was
not God's plan.

I visited the superintendent of my organization with

the purpose of handing in my credentials. I was still
very proud and frustrated. I preferred not to be part
of a body in which others made progress and I did
not. I felt miserable and hurt. In my heart I was
angry with the whole world, for I thought that
everyone had forgotten me. I blamed everyone else
for my circumstances. I did not understand that God
wanted to teach me to depend solely on Him.

I was angry with the whole world, for I thought that

everyone had forgotten me. I blamed everyone else
for my circumstances. I did not understand that God
wanted to teach me to depend solely on Him.

I arrived at the central offices of the Assemblies of

God and asked for an urgent interview with the super
intendent. He asked me to come in immediately. I sat
in front of him at his desk. He said, "I haven't seen
you for some time." It was true. I had failed to attend
the pastoral meetings as I felt less successful than the
others and did not want them to know how my
church was faring. My inner crisis had isolated me
from the others and caused me to flee from people.

Never isolate yourself in the midst of a trial. Seek

the fellowship of the church. Do not shut yourself up
and say, "Poor me!" Others may be making progress
as you seem to go from bad to worse. You maybe
tempted to think, How is this possible? I've given my
life to Christ, but my family, my ministry, and my
work don't seem to make any headway. Grab hold of
Christ Jesus and believe that He has a wonderful plan
for your life which must be accomplished even if hell
should oppose it.

That day the superintendent spoke to me before I

could tell him what I had come to see him about.
"Claudio, I have something to say to you. God has
something wonderful for you. You don't see it, but
God is going to use you greatly." This man was not
one to go around saying such things. He continued,
"Look-I started in a very precarious house and had
no help from anybody. Sometimes I had nothing to
eat and suffered greatly. But we prayed, and God
provided for each day. We felt grateful. I knew we
were doing God's will. And when I think of you,
Claudio, I know you are going to be useful to God.
You are within His will. I don't know what your
problems are, but keep on." Then he added, "By the
way, what brings you here today?"

I put my credentials back into my pocket and said,

"Well, nothing in particular. I thought I would just
come by and share a moment with you." I couldn't
say anything else. When I got home, Betty was
weeping. I said, "Betty, we're going to continue," and
embraced her tightly. We started all over again.

I needed an anointing to break hardened hearts, an

anointing that shatters the devil's chains and makes
the light of Christ shine.

Every plan or purpose God has for our lives carries

with it a spiritual process, in which God deals with
man. Those years of defeat helped me realize that
everything I had attempted on my own was in vain.
God showed me that my capacities and my
theological training were insufficient. The world does
not need theology. The world needs life. From that
moment I experienced a thirst and hunger for
spiritual power, a longing to know the Holy Spirit. I
needed an anointing to break hardened hearts, an
anointing that shatters the devil's chains and makes
the light of Christ shine.

Everything has a purpose. Things do not happen by

chance. God is eternal. He is our Father, and He
prepares us in such a way that we will be both
pleasing and useful to Him. Struggles and difficulties
are part of this spiritual process.

That is why the epistle of James says we are to

"consider it pure joy.. .whenever you face trials of
many kinds" (James 1:2). We read in Isaiah 54:1:
"`Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a
child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were
never in labor; because more are the children of the
desolate woman than of her who has a husband,'
says the Lord."

We have a God of miracles! Rejoice in Him!

 DESERT DISCIPLINE

GOD IS MORE INTERESTED in what we are than

in what we do. Our position as sons of God is
eternal, whereas our ministry is temporal. He will
make us mature disciples before He assigns greater
responsibilities in the ministry. Growing sometimes
hurts, but the kingdom must come to our hearts in
the first place.

In the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, God took

the people to the desert to humble them (v. 2). We
must associate humbling with God's discipline.

Usually we associate the word discipline with

punishment, but this is not the best meaning.
Etymologically, it shares the same root with disciple,
and the word refers essentially to a teaching process.
Hebrews 12:5-6 says: "My son, do not make light of
the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he
loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a
son."

The people to whom the Book of Hebrews was

written were passing through tribulations and
persecution. And they were tempted in their hearts to
draw away from God's path. The Lord, by this letter,
exhorts them not to make light of or turn away from
the times of discipline. The discipline would shake
them so that they could understand the privilege of
being made sons of God, disciplined and taught by
Him.

The purpose of discipline is revealed in the tenth

verse. It is "for our good, that we may share in his
holiness." The eleventh verse speaks of the harvest of
righteousness that comes when God has finished
dealing with us lovingly.

Paul understood the purpose of discipline. "For our

light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2
Corinthians 4:17). "That is why, for Christ's sake, I
delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak,
then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Trials are a means to a glorious end. How willingly

we ought to rejoice in faith for the victories that are
to be ours.

Trials allow us to receive new revelations of God

and of His plan for us. Our faith would stop growing
if we never faced life's difficulties.

Trials are a means to a glorious end. How willingly

ought we to rejoice in faith for the victories that are
to be ours.

THE BROOK

MEN of GOD such as Elijah experienced periods of

preparation. On one occasion, in the midst of a great
drought, God led Elijah to a brook and there sustained
him. He had fresh water and abundant food that God
sent to him by ravens (1 Kings 17:1-7). Everything
was fine until the brook suddenly dried up.

If the brook had not become dry, Elijah would

hardly have moved from such a comfortable place.
But God had greater things for him, and thus He
caused the brook to dry up so that Elijah would not
remain in that place.

The brook serves as an illustration of the negative

circumstances of life. Very often God "dries up the
brook" for us and leads us to pray, fast, and seek His
face because our surrounding circumstances have
become adverse. It is easy to say, "Glory to God,"
when everything is going well for us. But the
important thing is to be able to maintain our faith
when we are disconcerted and wondering, Lord,
what do You want to teach me through this? Perhaps
Elijah thought the brook was the best thing for him,
but God had more. And He could not give it to Elijah
until he left that place by the brook.

I remember those years when my own brook was

as dry as could be! I looked at my almost nonexistent
congregation, and the sight depressed me. I felt more
like throwing myself under the broom tree as Elijah
had done than to have the courage to believe in
greater things.

One day Nicanor, a relative of Betty's and a man of

faith, came to visit me. He invited me to go out away
from the church. Then he asked, "What do you see,
Claudio?"

I answered, "Nothing."

"You have to see what I see," he told me. "I see

thousands of souls!"

Again I said to him, "I can't see anything."

He looked into my eyes and insisted, "And yet I'm

telling you-the Lord has given them to you."
 At that moment as I was receiving this man's
words, a blessing upon my ministerial work seemed
very distant to me. I was living through a stage of
growth and cleansing. Nonetheless, with my little
faith I assembled my grannies and said to them,
"Sisters, we will be thousands in this church." They
looked at me as though they were thinking, Our poor
pastor has gone mad. But I had not gone mad.

If the brook dries up, cry to God, seek His face,

and prepare for something great!

TRIALS TRY US

TRIALS TRY us. When we are in the desert, the

substance of our hearts becomes evident. The Lord
knows what is in our hearts (Deuteronomy 8:2).
Does God really know what is in our hearts? Or does
He need to see our reaction to trials in order to find
out?

Through our trials and by the Holy Spirit's

revelation, we become conscious of what is in our
hearts, and then we can confess our sin to God.

It is very easy to develop a concept of ourselves

which does not agree with our real situation. Our
hearts are deceitful, and God unmasks them by
means of trials. We think we have love ... until
someone offends us; or we think we are humble ...
until we are told to do something humbling.

I learned this lesson as a young man entering

seminary for pastoral training. When I joined the
seminary, I did so with the enthusiasm which is
characteristic of all young people. On the first day of
classes the director of the seminary made an
announcement: "Now we are going to distribute the
tasks which each person must complete." When my
turn came, I thought, Surely I'll be asked to conduct
the choir. But the director assigned me the task of
cleaning the bathrooms! I could hardly believe it!
Angrily, I went to see the director, who was the
pastor at the church I had been attending as well.
"Angel," I demanded, "why did you give me the task
of cleaning the toilets?"

"Because I know you," he answered. "And I know

that that's what you need to learn."

"I'm here to learn theology, Bible, and homiletics," I

said. "I'm here for something besides cleaning the
bathrooms."
 Patiently he spoke to me again, "You're here to be
shaped as a man of God, and it's high time you
stopped being your mother's boy."

"I'm not going to do it," I replied. "I want some

other task that won't take up so much time."

The conversation ended when he responded, "If

you don't do it, I'll do it myself."

I left the office downhearted. I had expected

something better from my pastor. But I know
without a doubt that he was doing the best thing for
me. How I needed it!

The next day he got up and started on his way to

the bathrooms with a bucket and everything else he
needed for cleaning them. He was prepared to do the
job I was supposed to do. I found him in one of the
bathrooms, down on his knees cleaning the toilet. He
taught me a lesson in humility. I remembered the
many times I had said to the Lord, "Lord, break me.
Humble me. I want to be a servant." God had taken
my words very seriously. I said to my pastor, "Don't
do that. I have to do the cleaning."

Trials help us to know what really occupies our

hearts, and in this way we grow in holiness.

DEPENDENCE ON GOD

THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL went hungry in the desert

after leaving Egypt. They grumbled against Moses
and Aaron as they remembered the bread they ate in
Egypt until they were filled (Exodus 16:1-3). God
gave them manna, telling them, "In the morning you
will see the glory of the Lord" (Exodus 16:7).

In John's Gospel, Jesus makes Himself known as

"the true bread from heaven" (John 6:32-35). He
identified His own body with the figure of the manna.

A desert is a desolate place where the most basic

elements for survival are lacking. God tries our faith
in the desert. "He humbled you, causing you to
hunger and then feeding you with manna, which
neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you
that man does not live on bread alone but on every
word that comes from the mouth of the Lord"
(Deuteronomy 8:3). In this way He causes us to cry
out before Him, acknowledging His supernatural,
daily provision.

Again and again God has proven His faithfulness in

the midst of my terrible deserts. At times when I was
unable to provide a meal for my family, God, in His
mercy, provided for us, even though I sometimes
complained, as the people of Israel did. Many times
my father-in-law, who owned a grocer's shop, turned
up with provisions when our closet was empty. The
popular saying that God pays on the date of
expiration has a lot of truth in it. He wants us to
grow in faith!

Trials help us to know what really occupies our

hearts, and in this way we grow in holiness.

I want to share with you an even deeper lesson

from this passage. Sometimes we will be asked to
choose between material bread and the spiritual bread
that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

In the middle of a desert, what would your

priorities be? If we choose to work eagerly to solve
our problems, running here and there before we turn
our face toward God, we will be putting the cart
before the horse.

A desert offers a wonderful opportunity to meet

with God and hear His words to us. God is there,
calling our attention to Himself. "Therefore I am now
going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and
speak tenderly to her" (Hosea 2:14). God makes us
feel hungry in order to feed us with His Holy Spirit,
and then He showers favors and mercy on us.

Are you being tried? Fast, pray, and groan before

God. Seek the real bread that comes down from
heaven! This is your deepest need.

When Jesus withdrew to fast and pray in the

desert, the devil appeared in order to tempt Him
(Matthew 4:1-11). It was a moment of need for
Jesus, and the devil tried to sway His attention from
things above to earthly things by challenging Him to
turn stones into bread. Jesus rebuked him by quoting
this text: "It is written: Man does not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth
of God" (Matthew 4:4). In your desert the devil will
offer you hundreds of solutions and alternatives
except one: to seek earnestly the face of God.

In the middle of a desert, what would your priorities

be?

On one occasion, in those difficult, early days of

my ministry, the presbyter of our district offered a
helping hand. He determined that my church was the
most needy church in his district and that I was his
most needy pastor.

One afternoon he turned up at the door of my

church in the company of a well-known evangelist.
"We've come to help you," he said. "This brother is
willing to hold a great evangelistic campaign with
you." This was like a dream to me. That evangelist, a
fiery man who inspired great confidence, looked at
me and said, "How many do you want?"

I did not understand, so I asked, "I'm sorry. How

many do I want of what?"

He answered immediately, "How many souls do you

want for your church? For fewer than a thousand we
won't do it!" We looked at the town square opposite
the church, and he thought it would do as a location
for his crusade. Before departing, he said to me,
"Don't worry. At any moment I'll turn up with my
evangelistic team, and we'll fill your church." I was
thrilled at the thought of something so great that was
about to happen. I rushed in to find Betty and give
her the good news.

A week went by, and the brother did not get in

touch with me. Well, he'll be calling soon, I thought.
Several more weeks passed, then two months, three
months ... and I could not stand it any longer. I went
to visit him at his house.

When I rang the bell he came out to meet me. I

greeted him with a smile, "Hello! Do you remember
me?„

He looked at me and said, "Not really."

I was astonished. "But surely you must remember

... you came to see me at Parque Chas. Don't you
remember? A thousand souls ... the square opposite
the church ... ?"

Finally he said, "Oh, yes, I'm sorry. It's as though

someone had blotted your name out of my memory."

"Well, don't worry," I responded. "When can we

hold the crusade?"

His answer shocked me, "Forgive me, but my

agenda is full. Perhaps some other time. Now please
excuse me. Other people are waiting for me." And he
shut the door in my face.

In my desert, little by little God was teaching me

that He is the only fountain. It was useless to place
my hopes in men. The solution would come from
heaven.

I began to search God's face, to feed on Him. I

needed to know the Holy Spirit; I needed His
anointing. That was my real need! And when I
sought Him, He converted my wailing into a dance!
He radically transformed my life and ministry, leading
me into paths I had never before imagined.

After seven years of desert experience, I was

guided by a vision from God to establish a
prosperous church which today numbers over four
thousand members. He granted me the privilege of
heading a revivalist ministry on a worldwide level.
Glory be to God! I have lived, and continue to live,
glorious and supernatural experiences-with- my Lord.

I thank God for my deserts. I have learned through

them to value what I have. I got to know Claudio
Freidzon in his weak humanity during those long
years in the desert. I battled with his pride, his
shyness, his limitations. Little by little I have put him
to death, and each new day I want to see him on the
cross.

Without a shadow of doubt, all the virtue and

capacity that others may see in me are the exclusive
work of the Holy Spirit as a result of my fellowship
with Him. I know that everything I have is through
His grace and that only He is worthy of all the glory.

A couple of years ago we held a historic crusade in

Hialeah, Florida, with the joint cooperation of one
hundred Hispanic pastors. This crusade was the
springboard for the even larger one held in the
Orange Bowl stadium in Miami the following year.
Evangelicals had never held a meeting of this
magnitude in Hialeah. Each evening over ten thousand
people met in the open-air stadium. The mayor of the
city attended the opening meeting. As he addressed
the gathering, he said, "This is the first time I have
been present at an event of this kind, and I hope to be
present at many others. I thank God for bringing
Pastor Claudio Freidzon to our city." He then
presented me with the key to the city.

As I returned to my church I prepared to share the

blessing with my dear friends and family. I was about
to say, "Look at what I've been given."

At that moment the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to me

and said, "They didn't give the key to you. It was
given to Me." It is true. Only God is worthy of
receiving all the glory!

My deserts are part of the roots of my walk with

Christ. I could never disown them. Because I walked
through them, I can understand you and encourage
you with all of my heart. Move forward! God has a
marvelous plan for your life, and when the time
comes you will know what it is. Your present
moment is of great value to God. He is preparing
you, equipping you, to use you powerfully.

Only remember one thing, the most important

thing. Seek Him-that is, eat the living Word, and
make a practice of having fellowship with the Holy
Spirit. You may not be able to hasten the times of
God's plans, but you will surely delay them if you do
not hunger for the Holy Spirit.

Repeat these words with me in prayer:

Eternal Father, I thank You immensely for

having made me Your child, for disciplining
and transforming me through the Holy Spirit
from day to day. I long to be like Jesus. Shape
me, and accomplish Your eternal purpose in
my life.
Thank You for my deserts, for my trials. I
rejoice for what You will do through them.
Cleanse me so that I can be a powerful
instrument in Your hands.

Holy Spirit, I hunger for You. Fill my mouth

with goodness. I ask for this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
 2

Move Forward

FEW PEOPLE KNOW the story behind every man

the Lord raises into ministry. That story includes a
past, a preparatory school, and a family.

Ministerial success is real when the worker has a

family to back him. We cannot build God's work on
the ruins of our own family. Nothing is to be gained
by winning the world if we lose those we love most.

Jesus waited thirty years before revealing Himself

to the world. He remained in the city of Nazareth as
the carpenter's son. As far as we can tell, He
performed no public miracles in those years. For this
reason, Jesus' brothers, after His baptism and the
commencement of His public ministry, were the first
to be surprised and even to have doubts concerning
their brother.

What was Jesus of Nazareth doing? He was

teaching us that the first place where we are to make
our holiness evident is in our own homes, in our own
family circles. There He was the perfect son, the
perfect brother, the perfect worker. Nazareth
symbolizes our daily lives, or what we do every day.
We have to go through our own "Nazareth."

Many Christians would like to begin their public

ministry without going through Nazareth, but the
Lord wants to try us first in the family; only then will
He give each one of us what He has for each us
beyond that circle of influence.

Malachi 4:5-6 is a key text for these times. It

speaks of the divine purpose in restoring the family.
The Old Testament closes with these words:

See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before

that great and dreadful day of the Lord
comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers
to their children, and the hearts of the children
 to their fathers; or else I will come and strike
the land with a curse.

No one can doubt that we are near the last days.

The Lord speaks to us through Malachi the prophet.
He tells us that, for this time, He will send to this
earth a ministry of the Spirit like that of Elijah's, a
mantle of restoration over the family. Normally we
emphasize the signs ministry that accompanied Elijah,
but we do not say very much about the ministry of
reconciliation which he carried out.

Elijah restored the worship of the true God. He

brought the people's hearts back to God. He fought
their lack of concern and their apostasy. Indeed, in
these present days the Lord is knocking at the door
of lukewarm hearts that say, "I am rich ... and do not
need a thing" (Revelation 3:17). The message to the
Laodicean church has a clear teaching for us today.
When we begin to feel too satisfied with ourselves,
we have fallen into a state of spiritual lukewarmness
and have removed Christ from our hearts. Elijah's
anointing continues to work in the church through
the Holy Spirit and leads to reconciliation with God.
The Lord is restoring our fellowship with Him in a
powerful manner these days.
We cannot build God's work on the ruins of our own
family.

As we read the prophecy of Malachi, we notice that

God wishes to extend His restoring activity to all the
families of the earth. He wishes to reconcile fathers
to their children; children to their fathers; husbands
to their wives; and brothers and sisters to one
another.

The greatest wounds that a human being can suffer

are those inflicted within the family. The Lord
warned that in the last days the members of one's
own family would be our enemies (Matthew 10:36).
The Word mentions disobedient children (2 Timothy
3:2), people lacking in natural affection (2 Timothy
3:3), adulterers (1 Corinthians 6:9) and all kinds of
bitterness and sin that make families cry out for
urgent restoration. Christian families are not exempt
from the need for restoration.

After one of my crusades in another country, a

woman wrote to tell me what had happened while I
was there. One of the testimonies she told me about
made a big impression on me. It was the case of a
man who had been a Christian for many years and
had taken part in meetings. The woman shared his
story:

I received a phone call on the Sunday morning

after the crusade from a gentleman who had
been in the meeting the night before. When he
came to the meeting he was very skeptical
about the whole thing. But that night he was
"knocked down" by the Holy Spirit and spent
quite a long time on the floor. The Lord was
dealing with him while he was on the floor,
convicting him of sin in his life. God told him
it was his last chance to straighten his path, or
else he would lose everything.

Later, he left the meeting, went back to his

hotel, and wept uncontrollably until early in
the morning. Then he called the woman with
whom he had had an adulterous relation for
eleven years and ended the affair. He told his
wife and his church authorities the whole
truth and gave up all his church
responsibilities. He wanted some time to settle
things in his own life.

Yesterday he got in touch with me again,

asking me to meet with him and his wife. His
wife told how grateful she was to the Lord
 for the fact that her husband had attended the
crusade. When he had told her that he wanted
to take part in it, she was against the idea. She
suspected that something was not right in his
life. She had a feeling that there was another
woman in his life. But she felt God's peace,
and she handed her husband over to God.

That letter revealed the restoration of God.

It is interesting that Elijah's ministry is mentioned

when the subject of family reconciliation is being
considered. One of the characteristics of this man of
God was that he weighed the effect of his words.
The widow of Zarephath said to him, "Now I know
that you are a man of God and that the word of the
Lord from your mouth is the truth" (1 Kings 17:24).
Elijah did not utter just any trivial thing-he spoke the
word of the Lord. How important this is! How many
times our homes are saturated with worthless words,
words that hurt, but the Word of God is missing!

The Lord has called us to bless. "I will bless you...

and you will be a blessing" (Genesis 12:2). The most
literal sense of the verb to bless is "to speak well of,
to say what is good: words of encouragement, words
of hope."
 How many times our homes are saturated with
worthless words, words that hurt, but the Word of
God is missing!

I remember one occasion when I was doing some

masonry work in an attempt to restore the old house
in which we lived. I had no idea how to do this kind
of work, but I did not have the money to engage
someone qualified to do the job. I tried to prepare the
mortar with cement, but it was too liquid-it lacked
consistency, and as a consequence it ran down the
wall without adhering. I messed up the house inside
and out. Then right when I was most frustrated,
Betty came along, sweetly offered me a drink, and
said, "How's it going, my love? Don't worry just keep
on." She didn't say, "Useless man, you just can't do
things!" On the contrary, over all our years of
married life, she has always given me words of
blessing.

From our lips words of blessing should break out

on our children. The Bible teaches us that parents are
to bless their children. This blessing was highly
important in the history of Israel. Hebrews 11:21
says, "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed
each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned
on the top of his staff." Jacob suffered many
misfortunes in his life, but he was finishing it in a
glorious way. His beloved son Joseph stood before
him, and his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, all
of whom were following God's path! And Jacob
blessed them:

May the God before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has
been my Shepherd all my life to this day, the
Angel who has delivered me from all harm-
may he bless these boys. May they be called
by my name.

-Genesis 48:15-16

How could Jacob not worship God-the God of his

grandfather, Abraham; the God of his father, Isaac;
the God who had accompanied him; the God of his
son Joseph; and the God of his grandchildren
Ephraim and Manasseh?

How do you hope to end your days on this earth?

God grant us that we may do like Jacob, worshiping
God as we see all our household walking in His
paths. On that day, the important thing will be the
memories we leave with our children, and our
families, of our passage through this world. It is my
hope that my children will be able to say, "Dad was a
great man of God. He taught us what it means to be a
Christian."

The Lord says in His Word, "Believe in the Lord

Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your
household" (Acts 16:31). If right now your family is
going through difficulties, take hold of this promise
of God. Rebuke the accusations of the evil one, and
believe that you will see the glory of God in your
household.

In these End Times God has promised an anointing

to restore the family.

BETTY-A WOMAN OF GOD

AMONG THOSE WHO have blessed me, I have

reserved a very special place for the person whom,
after the Lord, I love the most and, without a doubt,
to whom I owe the most-Betty, my sweet wife.

God gave me a great wife, a woman who has

always encouraged me and poured prayers over me.
I have never heard her say, "Things are not going
well; you're not supplying my needs." On the
contrary, she had the virtue to wait for me and to
know how to wait for God's work in our lives. She
has that beautiful combination of sweetness and
firmness which have made her a person of real
support in my ministry in a powerful way. When
worship services are over and I ask Betty how things
went, she often points out some fault or error, thus
helping me to maintain my spiritual balance. The
enemy tries to "puff up" our heads and fill us with
pride; but the Lord gave me a wife, an instrument of
His, so that I should not have a mistaken view of
myself.

How do you hope to end your days on this earth? On

that day, the important thing will be the memories we
leave with our children, and with our families, of our
passage through this world.

When I was young I prayed specifically for the

Lord to show me His will concerning my future wife.
I met Betty at a camp, and she made an impact on
me. I observed her as she conducted her church's
choir and decided I would like to meet her. We had
exchanged only a few words when I discovered she
was a young lady who loved the Lord more than I
did and was dedicated to doing His will.

Betty consecrated her life to Jesus Christ as an

adolescent. She had always heard of Christ's
sacrifice on the cross, but she did not understand the
meaning of His death until a Christian uncle preached
the gospel to her when she was thirteen years old. In
spite of her youth, she already knew what fear and
lack of hope and lack of love meant. In particular,
fear oppressed her, and she felt terror at night.
Sometimes, not knowing why, fits of hysteria and
aggressiveness overcame her. Her mother, seeking a
solution to the family's problems, had attended many
occult sessions. The home was a hell of insults and
strife where the enemy promenaded freely. One day
the light of the gospel shone in those hearts. Betty
was the first to receive the Lord as the Savior of her
life, and then the rest of the family also experienced
His love. She began to serve God immediately,
evangelizing in very depressed areas of the country.

I was captivated by the spiritual authority she

possessed despite the fact that she was so young.
The Lord used her (and continues to use her greatly)
in worship and praise. In those days she was also the
president of the young people's organization of her
church. The brief conversation we had aroused in me
a desire to see her again. One day, knowing only the
name of the street on which she lived, I set out in
search of her. And I found her! After a lot of
inquiring, I arrived at a grocer's shop which belonged
to Don Victorio, a protective Italian who was not too
disposed to hand his daughter over to just any young
fellow.

I greeted Don Victorio and did my best to impress

him as to my suitability. "My name is Claudio
Freidzon. I'm a seminary student and president of the
young people in my church. I would like to talk to
Betty."

"Hallelujah!" he said. "Betty is at a prayer meeting in

our home. If you would like to stay, you can share
some thoughts on the Word with us."

"No, thanks," I answered. "I'll leave my phone

number. I hope your daughter will call me."

That week dragged on endlessly. One day the loud

speaker at the seminary announced a phone call for
me. I rushed in to answer it. It was Betty. I eluded
the curiosity of my fellow students and made up my
mind to become acquainted with her. We began a
friendship which progressed to courtship and finally
ended in marriage.

Betty fell in love with me many years ago. She

endured everything at my side-from not having a
heater and sharing our bathroom with the whole
church, to having to wear borrowed clothes. She
never pressed me in any way. Her father had worked
from sunrise to sunset to give her the best; he had
always treated her as though she were a princess.
When Betty married me I had nothing to offer her.
We lacked such essential things as a shower in the
bathroom or a proper place to wash clothes. But the
most beautiful thing about our relationship is that
after so many years of trials and victories, Betty's
love continues to be as unconditional as ever. After
the glorious times of the crusade in the Velez
Sarsfield stadium before sixty-five thousand people,
she did not say to me, "Claudio, I now love you
more." She loves me in the same way she did when
we lacked essential things, because she does not love
me for what I have but for who I am.

We have been married for many years, and I shall

never know how to express in words what Betty
means to me. We have a precious relationship; we
know how to talk, work, and be together.

Betty sometimes reminds me: "Claudio, tell me you

love me." It is the same with our relationship to God.
He wants to hear us say each day, "Lord, I love You.
 You are more important to me than anything else."

On one occasion I was invited to appear on the

Christian television program called Club 700. The
host asked me, "How do we move from regular
prayer to an intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit?"

The answer I gave him had to do with married life.

We can be together as husband and wife but fail to
tell each other of our love for one another. Betty
sometimes reminds me, "Claudio, tell me you love
me." It is the same with our relationship to God. He
wants to hear us say each day, "Lord, I love You. You
are more important than anything else to me."

The greatest treasure God has given me is my

family: my wife, Betty, and our precious children,
Daniela, Sebastian, and Ezequiel.

LOOKING INWARD

WE SOMETIMES MAKE the mistake of thinking

that the best things are outside the home or outside
the church. We fail to value those who really love us,
those who have looked after us and encouraged us,
or those who have wept for us.
We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that the
best things are outside the home or outside the
church. We fail to value those who really love us.

For two years I had travelled around my country

and the world at an intensive pace. I was only home
on weekends. I hardly had time for my children or
for my fellow workers in the church. I returned from
my trips and told them about my crusades around the
world. My heart and my mind were set on these
activities. I felt as though I were just passing by in
my own home.

I am grateful to God for the fact that the church

endured it and grew.

While returning from a crusade in Africa where I

had ministered successfully, I felt in my heart that
something was failing, that I should correct some
things and redirect the course.

That was when I got a word from God. Sometime

ago someone in my congregation handed me a letter.
I am used to having my pockets full of letters and
requests for prayer, and I read them meticulously,
one by one. This particular letter was written by a
woman who refrained from giving her name. She
said, "With due respect, after six months of praying,
I want to give you the following passage from the
Bible." It was 2 Samuel 19. I looked up the text in the
Bible, and as I read the Word, it became an inner
voice-a specific word for my life.

The biblical record mentions a terrible family affair

that affected King David. His son Absalom had
rebelled against his authority and had organized an
army to dethrone David and establish himself as the
new king. David's army, commanded by General
Joab, gave battle and defeated him. Absalom died on
the battlefield. When King David heard that his
rebellious son had died, he mourned for him. When
his troops entered the city triumphantly, they were
embarrassed at their success because of the situation.
Second Samuel 19:2-4 says:

And for the whole army the victory that day

was turned into mourning, because on that
day the troops heard it said, "The king is
grieving for his son." The men stole into the
city that day as men steal in who are ashamed
when they flee from battle. The king covered
his face and cried aloud, "0 my son Absalom!
0 Absalom, my son, my son!"
 When General Joab understood what was
happening, he went to see King David and exhorted
him harshly:

Today you have humiliated all your men, who

have just saved your life and the lives of your
sons and daughters and the lives of your
wives and concubines. You love those who
hate you and hate those who love you. You
have made it clear today that the commanders
and their men mean nothing to you. I see that
you would be pleased if Absalom were alive
today and all of us were dead. Now go out
and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord
that if you don't go out, not a man will be left
with you by nightfall. This will be worse for
you than all the calamities that have come
upon you from your youth till now.

-2 Samuel 19:5-7

As I read these verses, "the calamities of my youth"

came to my memory. I remembered the loneliness,
the things I did not have but have now: wonderful
workers, a precious family, splendid children. We
must acknowledge that sometimes we have mistaken
visions. We interpret them to mean that we must give
our best to those outside our own daily environment
and our worst to those within. Joab told King David:
"Today you have shown me that you love those who
hate you and hate those who love you."

Many are the men who have favors and smiles for
everyone except for their own household. Outside
their homes they are kind; they listen to everyone;
they lend their money. But to their own families they
offer only impatience, irritability, and indifference.

As I reflected on these things, I thought, How

foolish I have been! I realized that my church and my
workers who had taken on my ministry as their own
also needed me. I should say to them, "I love you all.
Thank you for what you've done. Thank you for
covering for me, for taking care of my children while
I've been away. You are important to me, and I have
nothing more wonderful than you." The world may
love me for what I have-but at home I am loved for
who I am.

God's priority is the family. The one who is a good

Christian at home will be a good Christian
everywhere. What we really are we make evident in
secret, where we have intimacy. We have the
presence of the Lord in our lives to help us value
what He has given us. God is demanding from us
that we look after our families, that we acknowledge
those who are always by our sides. During a crusade
we held in the city of Salta in northern Argentina,
something tremendous occurred which showed
God's appreciation for the wives of pastors.

God's priority is the family. The one who is a good

Christian at home will be a good Christian
everywhere.

When I hold my crusades, I normally devote a

special moment of prayer for the wives of pastors.
The women perform a remarkable service on behalf
of the kingdom of God and endure with their
husbands the pressures of the Lord's work. I rejoice
when the Lord renews them with the Holy Spirit
because I know how much they need Him.

The wives of all the pastors had come up to the

altar, and they were praising the Lord. At that
moment I was ministering with Betty, and the women
were receiving much from the Lord. Suddenly, a
breeze began to blow. The women had to hold their
skirts as the gentle wind stirred them. What was so
marvelous was that the place was completely closed!
I believe these are small signs of God's love. The
Lord was ministering to them, saying to each one of
them, "Though others may not take you into account,
for Me you are of great value, and I bless you with
My presence."

The time has come for us to do likewise.

 3

"I Want That Fire!"

GOD HAS ALWAYS placed me alongside great

ministers who taught me to have fellowship with the
Holy Spirit, to know Christ, and to worship Him.
They have been men and women of God who have
inspired me through their lives and motivated me to
move forward in spite of my deserts.

One of those men was Carlos Annacondia. I

remember meeting him in 1983 when I was teaching
theology in the River Plate Seminary. One morning I
noticed that most of the students in my early morning
class were falling asleep. For a moment I thought
that I must be teaching badly for all of them to go to
sleep! But one of the students explained.
 "Last night we didn't get to bed until six o'clock in
the morning! Then we had to get up a couple of
hours later for classes." How could they not be tired
if they had slept only a couple of hours!

In those days Carlos Annacondia was just

beginning his first campaigns. The night before, the
students had helped in the evangelistic campaign that
he was conducting in the city of La Plata, fifty
kilometers from the city of Buenos Aires. I had not
met him yet.

"Amazing things are occurring," another student

continued. "Thousands of people accept Jesus Christ
every night, and the power of the Holy Spirit to
liberate those possessed by demons is so great that
we must stay till the early hours of the morning to
pray with the people."

I decided right there, I have to go and see this man

who makes my students go to sleep in class.

One evening I went to La Plata, hoping to take part

in the campaign. I was surprised to see the crowd
that had gathered there. About an hour after the
meeting had begun, I saw Carlos Annacondia arrive
hurriedly. He worked hard in his secular business and
ministered in the evenings. He stepped on the
platform with a Bible in his hand and reached for the
microphone. As soon as he began to speak, I felt the
tremendous anointing of the Holy Spirit. When he had
finished preaching he made an evangelistic call, and
people began to run across the field toward the
platform. They wept, calling out to God for their
salvation.

Carlos Annacondia's spiritual authority made an

impact on me. When he prayed for people, many of
them fell to the ground as they were touched by God.
I saw a great number of people who were possessed
with demons fall to the floor with loud cries. These
individuals were taken to another room to be
ministered to separately. Many other people testified
to the fact that they had been healed. When the
meeting was over I greeted the evangelist, introduced
myself, and shook his hand. I left that place greatly
moved.

Carlos Annacondia is recognized the world over for

the part he played in the great spiritual awakening that
began in Argentina in 1982. It was the sorrow and
suffering of our nation that prepared hearts for the
gospel. The Malvinas (Falkland Islands) war left a
tremendous wound in the people's hearts. We lived
through days of tension and deep sadness as a
consequence of the death of many innocent young
boys in that frigid place. Our pride was shattered by
defeat. In the spiritual arena, this situation led to the
willingness of many people to open up to the Lord.

Soon after the military defeat, a tremendous victory

was won for the gospel. We were filled with joy at
the sight of five thousand people giving their lives to
Jesus Christ in one meeting. On the following day the
same thing happened. I just did not want to miss any
of the meetings that Carlos Annacondia conducted. I
went wherever he went because I rejoiced to see
what God was doing, in spite of the fact that my
own church continued to be empty.

One day, at one of those glorious meetings that

took place in large open spaces in the open air, I
approached him and said, "You don't know me, but
you have something tremendous in your life that I
don't have-a powerful fire. Would you pray for me?"
He laid his hands on me, and I was blessed.

The following Thursday, at midday, I went to his

house. In my hand I took a little package of small
cakes, along with a few bottles of delicious Argentine
mates, a typical beverage of our country. I walked up
to the door and knocked. When Annacondia opened
the door, I said to him immediately, "Brother, I've
come to pray with you. I want the spiritual fire that
you have. I want to learn." I had taken the first step
toward victory.

"Brother, I've come to pray with you. I want the

spiritual fire that you have. I want to learn."

From then on, every Thursday, I went to his house

to have fellowship with him and other pastors-a
wonderful group of friends. It did not matter whether
the day was cold or hot-we were there. In the course
of those sessions he gave his testimony, and then we
prayed in his room. We placed the map of Argentina
before us and asked God for a revival for each
location in our country. Those were indescribably
refreshing spiritual moments. I experienced a
revolution within me. A new grace of God was
coming to my life.

Changes began to take place in my small church.

The Lord was moving in the meetings. Fervor,
evangelistic zeal, and wonderful testimonies
characterized our times together. Little by little the
hall where the church met was filled with people, and
I noticed with joy that the period of defeat was being
left behind. But God wanted to surprise me with even
greater things.

THE VISION OF A NEW FIELD

IN 1985 I HAD A VISION of God in my room. It

must have been two or three o'clock in the morning.
I was asleep. Suddenly God woke me up and showed
me a vision on the wall, right before my eyes. I saw
the picture of a public square in the district of
Belgrano in Buenos Aires. The square was filled with
people who were celebrating an evangelistic
campaign similar to the ones that Carlos Annacondia
undertook. And the Lord said to me, "This is your
new field of work."

God showed me that He wanted me to demonstrate

His glory in that place and that He wanted to move us
away from the place where we had worked for so
many years.

When I mentioned this to my wife, she did not

understand it immediately. She questioned whether
we should move to another district now that things
were beginning to go well in Parque Chas.
Nevertheless, I was sure of what God had showed
me. Very often the person who has a vision is a
solitary person. On that occasion, God had spoken
only to me. All the others around me were against the
idea. It was a difficult, highly challenging situation.

While my heart was pondering these things,

hundreds of men and women in the Belgrano district
of Buenos Aires, whom I had never seen before but
would meet later in that square, walked around lost,
hopeless, and without God. Daniel Perotti was one of
them.

Daniel was about to turn twenty-eight years old

toward the end of 1985. He was married to Adriana,
whom he had known from the age of twelve, the
only girlfriend he ever had. He had a three-year-old
son who filled him with pride, a good job as the
owner of three taxis, friends, and strong family ties.
Few imagined that behind his appearance of strength
and success, deep within his soul he was alone, lost,
and sad, and thinking about suicide.

When Daniel was fourteen years old his father died.

Years later he told me, "I was the second of three
brothers, and the one who was hurt most by the loss.
I couldn't get over my father's death; it was an open
wound that never seemed to heal. When my first son
was born in 1982, I named him Aldo Daniel in
remembrance of the kindest man I ever knew, the
man who was my friend, my companion, my
teacher. Sometimes I imagined that one day my
father would come back as if returning from a long
journey, and we would be together again."

He married Adriana thinking he could create anew

the happy home his parents had made, a home filled
with love and companionship. But soon his hopes
were shattered. His marriage was not working.

He decided to leave Adriana, but after a few weeks

they reconciled. "We separated and reconciled several
times," Daniel told me. "But our relationship didn't
improve. I just didn't understand what was
happening. When I was away I wanted to be back in
my home; but when I got back, I wanted to leave."
By then he hardly ever saw Adriana; and when they
were together they did nothing but shout and
reproach one another. To make up for his inner need
for intimacy and to search for answers to his marital
problems, he began to go to occult sessions. He
spent money on quacks and fortune-tellers; he
attended Afro-Brazilian cults; but it was all useless.
On some of the lonely nights as he drove his taxi,
Daniel wished he had the courage to bring his life to
an end.
 Many other people were experiencing situations like
those facing Daniel and Adriana, and desperately
needed the glorious message of the gospel. These
people, like the Macedonian of Paul's vision, cried out
to my heart, "Come over to Belgrano and help us"
(see Acts 16:9-10).

Although I felt considerable opposition and knew

the challenge was great, I decided not to be
disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19).

GETTING READY FOR THE CONQUEST

I WENT TO LOOK at the public square I had been

shown in the vision. Under a sign that read "Plaza
Noruega," a crowd of drug addicts was sitting
around on the ground. I sized up the place to find out
where I would get electricity for my evangelistic
campaign. One man who watched my movements
came up to me and said, "Look here-I don't know
what you're going to do, but I hope you will clean up
the square. This is the meeting place of the worst
kind of dropouts in Belgrano. Last week they killed a
man."

I prayed silently, Father, are You sure this is the

square You showed me?
 The man continued, "This is the territory of El
Frances (The Frenchman). He is a dangerous man."

A violent battle erupted in me while he spoke. On

the one side was the comfort of my little flock that
was beginning to multiply, and on the other loomed
the great challenge of the unknown.

A violent battle erupted in me while be spoke. On the

one side was the comfort of my little flock that was
beginning to multiply, and on the other loomed the
great challenge of the unknown.

One day, while praying to the Lord, I asked Him,

"Lord, who's going to minister?"

The Lord replied, "You. "

At that stage in my life I was so shy that I used to

close the windows of my church so that neighbors
would not look in. And God wanted me to do the job
of an evangelist! I was speechless, but then I began
to argue with the Lord: "Lord, I've never preached
for crusades in the open air. You know how shy I
am."

The Lord sent me a message through a small group

of recent converts who were meeting to pray. While
they were praying, a young girl began to deliver a
message in tongues that she interpreted herself. This
woman had never seen or experienced such a
manifestation. Nobody had told her about the gift of
tongues and the need for interpretation, but the Lord
used her to say to me, "Tell the pastor that I will give
him power to work healings, that I will be with him,
and many will be saved.'-'This. word greatly
encouraged me.

I went to the police station and to the city

authorities to obtain permission to hold the meeting.
"You're going to preach there?" they asked. "Then
you're even more crazy than the drug addicts."

We decided to begin our evangelistic campaign on

February 1986. We lit up the square with garlands of
light bulbs and set up the platform. It was the season
when Carnival takes place, and some people asked,
"When does the parade begin?"

SALVATION AND POWER IN THE BELGRANO

DISTRICT

THE DAY FINALLY ARRIVED. As one of the men

led the people in a time of praise and worship,
someone came looking for me to tell me it was time
for my message. I was standing behind a tree, fearful
of the responsibility facing me and hoping the
moment for my participation would be delayed. But
something marvelous happened as I stepped onto the
platform: A powerful moving of the Holy Spirit came
over my life. I started to preach with His anointing.
Many of the neighbors had stopped to watch. God
was capturing the attention of the people near the
square.

That day as I made a call for people to come and

receive Jesus, a lady who lived opposite the square
came up to the platform. Her eyes were completely
unfocused, but as we prayed for her she fell to the
ground and got up thoroughly healed. Many people
who suffered from flatfoot, a condition in which the
arch of the instep is flattened, were healed, and
others came forward to testify that God had filled
teeth that needed treatment. It was glorious! It was
exciting to see so many people respond to the Lord's
call to repent of their sins and be converted.

During one of the following evenings, Daniel Perotti

left home to go to work with his taxicab, angrily
resenting his mother's attempt to get him to attend
the services in the square. How could he take part in
a meeting with evangelicals in a public square? As the
time passed, no passenger seemed to need his taxi.
As he was only two blocks away from the square, he
parked his car and walked over to where we were
preaching. The following is an account of his
experience:

I watched everything with critical eyes. I did

not believe the testimonies of healing, and the
things that differed so much from my own
religious beliefs thoroughly displeased me. But
after two hours something changed within
me. I noticed that the people seemed to be
really happy. They were not like me, used to
pretending I was happy while inside I felt as if
I were living in hell. When the pastor asked
people to receive Jesus, I started toward the
platform. I'm going to try, I said to myself.
I've been to so many places... and here they're
not asking me for anything. Once I repeated
the prayer that Pastor Freidzon led us to say, I
was not the same man. I experienced
indescribable peace.

I went straight home from that service in

order to shut myself in my room and read the
Gospel of St. John that had been given to me.
The next day my wife found the tracts the
 church distributed, and instead of going to her
mother's home, she waited to have breakfast
with me. I told her all that had happened, and
I asked her to give me another chance. That
night we went to the service together as a
family and surrendered our hearts to Jesus
Christ.

"Once I repeated the prayer that Pastor Freidzon led

us to say, I was not the same man. I experienced
indescribable peace."

Adriana was able to forgive Daniel. Something new

began in their relationship. In the course of those
glorious evenings, God healed Daniel of all his
wounds and said, "From now on, I'm your daddy,
and you must love Me and ask Me for what you
need."

In the years since Daniel surrendered his life to the

Lord. He and Adriana have a wonderful relationship
and two precious children, Aldo Daniel and Pablo
Ezequiel, who was born after they were converted.
He is a man of faith who now serves as an associate
pastor and is a great blessing to everyone. We have a
marvelous God!
 On one side of the platform in the square at Plaza
Noruega, drug addicts could be seen congregating
every night during the services. One night when I
addressed them specifically and asked them if they
wanted to get to know Christ, they came running up.
To the surprise of everyone, "The Frenchman" was
the first to come.

THE FRENCHMAN

SERGIO MARQUET, known as "The Frenchman," is

very special to me. This man passed from darkness
into light, consecrating himself entirely to the Lord.
His change was so great that nobody could believe it.
The police thought it was a mask, some new strategy
to continue doing his thing. After his conversion, he
used to spend all his time in the church building. He
prayed, read the Word, and did the cleaning. He was
devoted to the Lord's service. Many experienced
God's power through his testimony. The following
paragraphs describe the transformation in his life in
his own words.

I was born in Paris in 1963, the son of a

French mother and an Argentine father. My
parents never married, and ever since I can
remember they lived apart. When I was five
years old, the relationship between my parents
had become unbearable. My father accused
my mother of being mentally unstable and of
having violent attitudes toward him. One day
he told my mother that he was going to
Argentina for a holiday and was taking me to
meet his family. That holiday never came to
an end.

My father never returned to France or had

any contact with my mother or my younger
brother again. On two isolated occasions, my
mother traveled to Argentina to try to recover
me by force but with no success. Both times
they ended up in quarrels on the street and at
the police station.

When I was thirteen years old my father went

completely mad. I continued living with him
until I was sixteen, when he died. My whole
family environment had led me to seek
satisfaction in other experiences. I observed
that those who worked for a living and made
efforts to prosper didn't seem to be happy
either. So I decided I didn't want to be one of
them. I refused to live as a slave to routine.
Even before my father's death I had started
drinking. When he died I thought at last I
would be free to live my own life. From
alcohol, I quickly turned to drugs. I smoked
marijuana and sniffed cocaine, but I promised
myself I would never inject drugs.

In time, however, I injected morphine into my

veins, and this drug awoke in me a deep
passion for (and dependence on) all kinds of
drugs derived from opium. In these I seemed
to find deep satisfaction. I began to need them
just to exist daily. Everyone knew that the
Frenchman bought and sold drugs in the
district of Belgrano. If someone in the
northern area of the city needed something, he
knew that the Frenchman had what he was
looking for.

I lived in a two-room apartment inherited

from my father, which was a true reflection
of what my life was like: It lacked windows,
flooring, and lighting. The walls were in a
state of disrepair, and the door didn't shut. I
shared my apartment with a group of drug
addicts and criminals. In the mornings we
used to get up and pursue our various
activities, some to steal and others to seek
drugs. The neighbors in my block of flats
lived in fear, and every one of them had
lodged several complaints against me with the
police. The police blamed me for anything that
had to do with drugs in Belgrano, and I had
several legal cases pending for possession of
narcotics, trafficking, theft, and forgery.
Twice my house was searched. I was used to
being arrested as often as twice a day at
times.

I knew of the existence of God because

several friends had spoken to me and told me
that Jesus was the truth. Every time I was
arrested I asked God to get me out, promising
that I would change, and God answered.
Inexplicably, I was let out. I used to tell my
clients that Jesus was the truth... not the drug
I was selling them. But I had the New
Testament in one hand while I had drugs in
the other.

A group of us stopped regularly at Plaza

Noruega. In January 1986 thirty police raids
were carried out there. One day-I shall never
forget it-I saw a man walking slowly around
the square with his hands crossed behind his
back. The first thing I thought was that he
was a policeman, but some time later this
same man stood on a lighted platform talking
about God. My friends and I listened at a
distance. I thought I knew Jesus, but little by
little I began to realize that these people had
light and that I was in darkness. I stopped
there every day to listen.

One day I heard God say to me, "This is your

last chance." I didn't want to stop using drugs
because I didn't know anything else, but I felt
a great inner need. When the pastor gave an
invitation for the people to accept Christ into
their lives, I went forward. By the next day I
was high again, and I went to the campaign
under the influence of drugs. I went forward
to pray. The curious thing was that when I
finished praying I was completely sober and
felt great. This happened day after day.

One night God spoke to me when I was under

the influence of drugs to a greater extent than
ever before. I don't even know what the
pastor spoke about, but in a flash I
understood that Christ had died for me. I
couldn't believe it! Jesus loved me even
though I was a drug addict who had been
rejected by my family, by the police, by my
neighbors and by society! And not only did He
love me but He had given up His own life for
me. I felt so unworthy, so dirty, that I began
to cry. I cried the whole evening. I couldn't
stop crying as I thought about Christ's love.
When that day came to an end, I was no
longer the same man.

I never again felt the need for drugs, and the

same passion that had driven me to drugs
now drove me to the Lord. I had to face the
pressure of my friends who reproached me
for my change and moved away from me. But
in time they came to admit the work of Christ
in me. I was another person. I was able to see
God's mercy in my life. He knew that in my
condition I couldn't go to a church, so He
sent Pastor Claudio Freidzon to where I was
and used him to rescue me.

I still live in the same apartment, but now it's

like new. There are no drug users living there.
I live there with my wife and Belen, the
daughter God gave to us. As the years went
by, I understood why God had told me it was
 my last chance. In 1986 hardly anybody
talked about AIDS [Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome], but soon after that,
AIDS began to spread rapidly. Most of the
friends with whom I injected drugs are now
carriers of the virus. Many have died. Some
are in prison. I lack the words to thank God
for the miracle He wrought in my life.

At the present time, Sergio Marquet is one of my

associate pastors and the coordinator for my
crusades. Glory be to God!

GOD PUTS THE ENEMY TO SHAME

IN THAT PUBLIC SQUARE I had some powerful

experiences. The Lord displayed His power by
freeing those who had been oppressed by the devil.
Dozens of men and women gave indications of being
demon-possessed, and we had to deal with them in a
separate place. On one occasion a young Buddhist
lady sat opposite me in the square. She had raised a
sort of altar with a lighted candle, and when I
rebuked the demon that held her subject to his will,
she suddenly fell backward-candle and all! God put
the power of her idols to shame.
 One night a group of psychologists convened on
the square to study the phenomena. They observed
what we did and then gathered in a small circle to
confer. One of the psychologists, a lady, came close
to me and watched how I prayed for people. Then
she said, "Teach me your technique."

"What technique?" I asked.

"The hypnotic technique you use," she replied. "I

use the French technique that was taught to me at the
university. My instructors told me that the hypnotist
must make visual contact with the person, but
sometimes you don't even look at them. What
technique is it?

"God's technique!" I responded. "And only those

who repent of their sins and accept Jesus as Lord
and Savior can have it."

In one of the buildings facing the square lived a

dentist who heard the testimonies concerning teeth
that had been filled by the Lord. She said, "I'm going
to unmask those liars." She came to the meeting one
night with her young daughter, ready to examine the
mouths of all those who testified that they had been
healed, hoping to say afterward that it was all a
fraud.

While we prayed, her daughter began to shout, "It's

burning me! It's burning me!" The girl pointed to her
mouth.

When her mother looked in her mouth she found

that all her teeth were filled with platinum. A great
victory became manifest in the heavenly places!

It was not always easy to keep on preaching.

Many, proclaiming that the square was a public place,
came to make trouble. Others insulted us or threw
things at us. Nonetheless, the spiritual experiences of
the meetings were so intense that I could not sleep at
night. I could hardly believe I was living through
such events! My wife, who was expecting our son
Ezequiel at the time, was amazed. "When you are
ministering, it really isn't you," she told me. "You
project such security, and those words...." And she
knew me very well!

My wife was amazed. "When you are ministering it

really isn't you," she told me. "You project such
security...."

God was showing His glory in that place in the

district of Belgrano. In His infinite love, He had sent
me to preach the Good News to those who were
lost. He made my path cross with Daniel's and
Sergio's, and the paths of many others whose lives
had been destroyed. He thought of them and put His
vision in me. What would have happened if I had not
obeyed? Thank God for working in us "to will and to
act according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13).

The victory was tremendous. In twenty days a

thousand neighbors surrendered their lives to Christ.
I had gone to the square with a handful of brothers,
and God gave me a thousand.

This is how the King of Kings Church was born in

the Belgrano district: in the street, with anointing,
power, and miracles. Today we have over four
thousand members and are carrying on a ministry to
the nations. God is wonderful! He is a God of
pleasant surprises and great victories.

The Christian life is a constant growing experience.

The Lord has more for you. You have not yet learned
everything-He has more!
 4

Deeper Into the River

WE MUST CONTINUE to grow according to God's

plans. He has wonderful stages for us to reach and
discover. God says, "Call to me and I will answer
you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do
not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).

When we enter the river of God, the Lord invites us

to go down into the deeper waters in order to reach
new goals. Sometimes we believe that we have
reached the bottom when in actual fact the water is
only ankle-deep. God calls us to grow in dependency
and fellowship with Him. Our new birth and baptism
in the Holy Spirit are only two beginnings. The Spirit
says, "Don't be content with what you've received. I
am the River. Continue to submerge deeper and
deeper into the water."

Ezekiel 47 describes this beautiful picture. Ezekiel

went into the waters to his ankles, to his knees and
even to his waist, until finally he said, "It was a river
that I could not cross, because the water had risen
and was deep enough to swim in" (47:5). Blessed
experience! When the prophet was in the depths, he
saw things he had previously ignored. "When I
arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each
side of the river. He said to me, `Swarms of living
creatures will live wherever the river flows. There
will be large numbers of fish, because this water
flows there and makes the saltwater fresh; so where
the river flows everything will live"' (47:7-9). This is
a clear lesson. When we are in the depths of the
river, unable to touch the bottom, the current of the
Spirit takes us where God wants us to be. There we
discover abundant life, growth, and multiplication.

The Spirit says, "Don't be content with what you've

received. I am the River. Continue to submerge
deeper and deeper into the water."

Let us not stay close to the riverbank. Let us go

forward to a new relationship with God. In intimacy
with Jesus Christ we shall reap an extraordinary
harvest, an abundance of fish. We shall be
protagonists in His kingdom.

This has been my experience. The Lord called me

to deeper waters, to walk through new stages. As I
met Him, I discovered that "carried by His river," He
could use me as a powerful instrument to bless
others. You can also experience this!

A NEW MOVING OF THE SPIRIT IN

ARGENTINA

THE YEAR 1992 REPRESENTED a new period in

my ministry. God poured out a salt shaker on my
tongue, causing an intense spiritual thirst-a hunger
for the Holy Spirit! He not only filled my cup with the
Holy Spirit but He made the Spirit overflow toward
others.

What started in my heart as a personal search

progressed to impact crowds that came to our
church to drink from the Holy Spirit. Crowds from
all over the country, and even from other countries,
came to receive more from God without an invitation
or publicity. It was a spontaneous move of the Spirit
which gathered us together for a glorious celebration.
These times of restoration and power in God's
presence led me to exclaim, "It's very strong! His
presence is very strong!" I had never imagined there
could be such experiences.

Donald Exley, supervisor of all American

missionaries of the Assemblies of God in the
Southern Cone, is a man of God who is highly
respected by everyone. This man, together with Brad
Waltz, wrote an article for Mountain Movers, the
foreign missions magazine of the Assemblies of God,
about our services in those days. The title of the
article was "A New Wave of the Holy Spirit." Some
of their report is included below:

When Claudio went back to his church, an

unusual presence of the Holy Spirit
accompanied him during the services. As the
congregation began to worship, some looked
as if they were drunk in the Spirit and could
not hold themselves up; others laughed in the
Spirit or fell under the power of God. Each
service lasted six or seven hours. Outside,
hundreds of people waited in lines that
extended around the block in order to get in.

The testimonies of miraculous manifestations

spread, and pastors from different
denominations came to see what was
happening. When Claudio prayed for the
pastors, they received a new and fresh
anointing which they took back to their
churches. Finally, in an attempt to lead the
crowds, Claudio rented a six-thousand-seat
stadium near the church for every Tuesday
evening. In this stadium he held special
meetings for pastors and for people from
other denominations. He asked them not to
attend his church, for the crowds far
exceeded what the church could receive.

One characteristic of the awakening was the

emphasis on worship and praise. Missionaries
reported that God's glory seemed to repose on
the meetings. Some people wept during the
whole service; others laughed. The anointing
came through worship and praise. "The
presence of God descended as we plunged
into worship," said Claudio.

The awakening brought a renovated hunger

for God that was evident by the tears of
repentance shed by pastors and laypeople
alike. An emphasis on personal holiness
changes the lifestyles of many people. Less
 time was spent watching television. Pastors
spoke of the hours they spent in prayer and of
new joy in their ministry.

In December 1992 Claudio rented an

auditorium with twelve thousand seats, the
largest in Buenos Aires, to hold a service.
When the building was full and the police
closed the gates, twenty-five thousand people
were still waiting outside. Two main avenues
were closed, and people waited there for three
hours for a second service. Among those who
were waiting outside, two blocks away from
the auditorium, was a rich woman who was
not saved and who felt very miserable and
was contemplating suicide. God's power
touched her, and she fell to the ground.
Believers gathered around her and led her to
Jesus Christ. A week later she was witnessing
to what God had done in her life. Though the
awakening began in Claudio's church, it
extended to hundreds of pastors and
churches.

God was sending a fresh wind and times of

renewal to His people!
 Brad Waltz published an interesting article about the
events mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. In it
he addresses the American people by asking:

What can the American church learn from

this Argentine awakening? How close are
American Pentecostals to their roots?

If the Azusa Street awakening occurred again,

how open would we be to the spiritual
manifestations which led to the formation of
our Pentecostal movement?

Last year, as we were leaving Argentina, the

party of Christians which came from the
United States said: "Argentine believers prayed
for us, just as our American brothers and
sisters had prayed for us when we were sent
to Argentina five years ago. They prayed that
we might bring to the United States part of the
awakening that is occurring in Argentina."
Can the American church learn anything from
the Argentine awakening? I believe it can:

1. The Argentine awakening is neither

meticulous nor tidy. Americans like everything
to be well organized and fully anticipated. Do
we wish to put aside our programs and let
God move? In 1 Kings 8:10-11, an occasion is
told ofwhen the glory of God filled the temple
to such an extent that the priests were unable
to go about their business. When the glory of
God descends on the churches, it interrupts
normal activities. Can we set aside our need to
anticipate everything?

2. We cannot live in the past. The stories of

what happened in Azusa Street will not satisfy
the present generation. This generation wants
to experience a moving of God today.

3. We cannot allow physical manifestations

that we do not understand, or that displease
us, to distract us from what God is doing.
Sometimes we are surprised because
experiences we witness do not fit in with our
traditions. Our Pentecostal forefathers were
called "holy rollers" because they did not hold
passive worship services that were neither
quiet nor orderly.

4. God can teach us through our spiritual

children. Sometimes we Americans look at
our relations with other nationalities through a
fatherson model. We see ourselves as more
mature, even superior, but churches in other
countries have become mature. We need to
see their superabundant multitudes and ask:
What are they doing in order to grow? What
can we learn from them?

One of the things which the Argentine church

could teach is how to become fearless
Pentecostals and experience the supernatural
power of God in a regular manner. They
might say, "We are simply doing what you
taught us. We are allowing the Holy Spirit to
be more important than human ability or
wisdom."

We Americans need a fresh touch from God,

to breathe life to a generation which has not
experienced its own Azusa Street.

My wife commented, "When I'm seeking God

at the altar together with Argentine believers,
I'm not a missionary or someone with a
special title. I'm simply a person who needs a
touch from God just like anybody else."

We Americans are not special in any way. We

 are a needy people. For years the American
church has prayed for Argentina; now the
Argentine church is praying for us.

Shall we maintain the life in the Spirit which

gave rise to our movement, or shall we
convert it into an organization whose main
purpose is its own survival?

May God answer these Argentine prayers and

grant this generation of Americans spiritual
renewal!

This was how these missionaries summarized this

new spiritual awakening we are enjoying in Argentina
and watching as it flourishes in other parts of the
world.

"HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS!"

MANY HAVE ASKED ME, "What is the key that has

permitted you to live such an experience?"

I usually answer, "Asking for help, and knowing

how to receive from others." We know that we are to
have a good relationship with God, but we do not
always value the benefits of unity.
 Psalm 133 teaches us that God's anointing on our
lives depends, to a large extent, on our harmony with
the body of Christ. This truth has impacted my own
life throughout the years and led to my present
ministry. Let us analyze the text. The psalmist
presents a figure of the church as a household. "How
good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in
unity!" (Psalm 113:1). We must be very careful to
maintain a spirit of unity and fraternal love. In our
congregation we emphasize this point and encourage,
through discipleship groups and retreats, a family
atmosphere of love which is so necessary for healthy
growth.

But an atmosphere of love is also important at a

ministerial level. When God initiated this new move
of His Spirit in Argentina, I was a presbyter of the
Assemblies of God in the city of Buenos Aires. With
gratitude I remember the good times we enjoyed at
our presbyterial meetings. We used to pray and seek
excellence for God's sake. We planned activities and
fellowship meetings for pastors, and activities and
meetings that were organized in my district with
precious fellow workers and friends in our labors for
God. We often got together for business breakfasts,
prayer meetings, and country outings where we
played soccer, talked about our challenges, and
learned from one another. How good and pleasant it
is when brothers live together in unity, valuing the
brothers and sisters God has given them!

The dove of the Holy Spirit rests on men and women

who are meek and forgiving. Bitterness, accusations,
resentment, and criticism grieve the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is like the precious oil that was

poured on Aaron's head, ran down his beard, and
onto the collar of his priestly robes (Psalm 133:2).

There are three requirements for achieving the

anointing of God upon our lives:

1. We are to be united in love (Ephesians 4:1-

3).

The dove of the Holy Spirit rests on men and women

who are meek and forgiving. Bitterness, accusations,
resentment, and criticism grieve the Spirit. When
unity is broken we are not in a position to take part in
the life of the body. We erect a wall that prevents the
divine oil from flowing. God save us from such
behavior!

2. We are to be in the place that has been

assigned to us, exercising the gift that we
 have received (Romans 12:3-4).

His anointing flows toward us so that we can

accomplish the ministry God ordained us to
accomplish for His sake. If we move away from the
place we have been given in the body, the precious oil
that descends from the head will not reach us.

The Lord is a God of diversity. Each of the twelve

tribes of Israel had a standard and a very special
function which God had entrusted to them (Numbers
2:2). The Levites were assigned a banner and a
function: keeping and caring for the tabernacle. Each
tribe had its own function away from the tabernacle,
but around the tabernacle they were one.

So also in the body of Christ, I know believers

whose ministry is the planting of schools; others, the
founding of Bible institutes. Others work with drug
addicts; others minister to children; and others
perform dramatic plays on the streets to attract the
lost. God's grace is multifaceted. The Lord wants us
to maintain our identity and at the same time to bear
in mind the purpose for which He placed us on the
earth. We have been assigned a function, a ministry,
and God gives us the spiritual capacity to perform it
in His name. It is important for all ministries to be
active in order that we may accomplish the work of
God together.

These truths helped me in my growth. Soon after I

was converted, the Lord began to stir me to consider
serving Him, and I told my pastor about my desire to
preach. As he was a wise man, he sent me to an
extremely poor shanty town in Buenos Aires known
as "La Cava." Our church ran a Sunday school in this
very dangerous area. My pastor said to me, "Your
congregation will be made up of children and their
parents. If God has truly assigned you this ministry,
you will have the same passion for the children as for
the grownups." I prepared my sermons diligently, but
when I arrived at the place, I was met by a very
different sort of reality-the children were dirty, and I
had to learn to clean the noses of each one of them.
That was my first ministry!

There are no tasks that can be considered more

important than others. They are all equally assigned
to us by God and will be rewarded equally.

There are no tasks that can be considered more

important than others. They are all equally assigned
to us by God and will be rewarded equally. Make
sure you are serving God where He has placed you.
What He has assigned to you is of great value to
Him!

3. We are to obey those who are in authority

over us, and we are to accept counsel from
the brethren (Romans 13:1; Ephesians 5:21).

Bearing in mind that the precious oil comes down

from above, the relationship with our superiors will
be of vital importance. God does not bless the
rebellious or the self-sufficient. He teaches us to be
docile to the counsel and correction of pastors and
more mature Christians. If we are subject to
authority and in obedience, God bestows authority on
us for our ministry (Matthew 8:9).

The Lord blessed me through His chosen

instruments, both within and outside my own
denominational fellowship. These mature believers
helped me to acquire a glimpse of the new horizons
ahead of me.

I tasted the deliciousness of fellowship and its

positive effects for our growth. As stated in
Ephesians 4:16, "The whole body, joined and held
together by every supporting ligament, grows and
builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
 LISTENING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

IT WAS WHILE I was pastoring in the La Cava area

of Buenos Aires that Osvaldo Carnival and I decided
to conduct an evangelistic radio program. We called it
A World Within Another World, and it was on the air
every day from four to five o'clock in the morning. It
was wonderful to see how that joint ministerial task
developed into a genuine friendship that blessed our
families. That experience with radio programming
was the beginning of an ever-increasing and
committed radio and television ministry.

At the beginning of 1992 my days were very busy.

In the morning hours I conducted evangelistic radio
programs. Then I spent time in the church office and
saw to all the pastoral consultations. In the evenings I
taught or preached in the meetings. My congregation,
the Rey de Reyes Church (King of Kings), was
expanding steadily with more than two thousand
regular members.

For many years I was working in my ministry for

up to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. My
vacations were limited to five days-a Monday
through a Friday-because I did not allow myself to be
absent from our church over a weekend. I was busy!
By 1992, after many difficult years in the ministry, I
was achieving great results. Yet my intuition told me
that something was missing. I felt a need, but I was
unable to identify the source.

The answer came as a consequence of the visit of a

dear brother, Werner Kniessel, who pastors the
largest church in Switzerland. The church is in
Zurich, but Werner Kniessel had been a missionary in
Argentina for many years. As a matter of fact, I met
him when he was a director in the seminary where I
was studying. To pay for my expenses as a student, I
worked as a secretary to Werner in the evenings after
classes, and we got to know each other very well.
His wise counsel was a real blessing that contributed
to my training.

"You have grown considerably, and your church is

wonderful. But there is something you are not doing
the right way. The Holy Spirit wants to talk to you,
and you don't have the time to listen to Him."

After several years we met again to share a meal at

a restaurant where we enjoyed some excellent
Argentine beef (something which Werner missed so
much). Earlier that evening he had taken part in a
worship service in our church, and it had been
marvelous. I was very happy at the opportunity to
talk to him about what God had been doing in my
life. I told him in great detail about my many
activities, and to be honest, I expected Werner to
congratulate me.

I thought he might say, "Oh, Claudio, how good it

is to see all that the Lord has given you!" Instead, he
asked me a question that shook my whole life. He
said, "Claudio, how much time do you devote to
listening to the Holy Spirit?" The morsel of beef in
my mouth almost choked me! He went on, "You've
grown considerably, and your church is wonderful.
But there is something you are not doing the right
way. The Holy Spirit wants to talk to you, and you
don't have the time to listen to Him."

Right then and there I understood what Moses felt

when his father-in-law, Jethro, spoke to him on
God's behalf and said, "What you are doing is not
good" (Exodus 18:17).

It is interesting to bear in mind that Moses, before

seeing and experiencing the glory of God on Mount
Sinai, had to make some important decisions. He had
to learn to delegate responsibilities and to make
adjustments in his daily routine. Jethro said to him,
"What you are doing is not good. You can't go on like
this. You are too overloaded." Moses was a very
meek and wise man. He was a leader who knew
God, and yet he made mistakes and needed
correction. If he had rejected his father-in-law's
counsel, if he had not given up those heavy loads, he
might not have heard God's voice calling him to a
glorious meeting on Mount Sinai.

When someone who is spiritually minded comes

with a word from God, or when the Lord Himself
speaks to us from the Scriptures, we are to accept it.
In my case, after hearing Werner, I felt an urgent
need to stop and reconsider many things. I now
understood what I needed.

I had always kept up my prayer life on a regular

basis and prepared myself spiritually for each of the
tasks ahead of me, but there was a level of fellowship
with the Holy Spirit that I had never explored. For
years I had taught theology. At the time of Werner's
visit I was teaching a series called "Holy Spirit: His
Names and Attributes." Suddenly, the Holy Spirit
ceased to be a subject and came before me as a
Person who wanted to talk to me and enter into a
relationship with me. A renewed thirst for God arose
in my heart. I had made the psalmist's words my
own. "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my
soul pants for you, 0 God. My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God" (Psalm 42:1-2).

You have to fellowship with those Christians who are

walking in the paths of the Spirit. If you gather
around you only people who feel defeated and
pessimistic, you will become confused and disturbed.

After my conversation with Werner, I got in touch

with Pedro Ibarra, the vice president of our
organization at that time. I told him how I was
feeling. I had the good fortune to know that I could
count on him for his wise counsel.

It is difficult to find fellow Christians with whom

we can dialogue on a truly spiritual level. You have to
fellowship with those Christians who are walking in
the paths of the Spirit. If you gather around you only
those who feel defeated and pessimistic, you will
become confused and disturbed.

Pedro Ibarra is a tremendous man of God who is

very sensitive to the things of the Spirit. Though I did
not see him often, when we did meet we used to talk
about God's blessings. He has always been a blessing
to me. On that occasion, after telling him of my
desire to enter into a new relationship with the Holy
Spirit and have daily fellowship with Him, Pedro
looked at me and said, "As a matter of fact, I've just
received a copy of a book titled Good Morning, Holy
Spirit. The author is Benny Hinn, the director of a
ministry in Orlando, Florida. He speaks of the kind of
fellowship that you are looking for." God blessed me
through the reading of that book.

CHANGES IN THE CHURCH

ONE NIGHT WHILE traveling in connection with

my ministry, I walked into the hotel room where I
was staying and felt as though someone had entered
the room with me. I knelt to pray, and there He was-
the presence of the Holy Spirit was a tangible reality.
It was glorious! A fresh and intimate fellowship was
born within my soul. No man could grant me this
gift; it was a visitation of the Holy Spirit.

From then on, for whole nights I did not sleep so

that I could have fellowship with Him. I discovered
powerful prayer with deep meaning and spiritual
weight. I could worship Christ, hear His voice, be
silent before His majesty, and lie prostrate in the
presence of His love.
 The presence of God manifested itself with power
in our church in a surprising way. I remember the
first worship service after those fresh experiences in
prayer with God. I gave an altar call for people who
were attending our church for the first time. As they
came, they were broken and weeping. I asked
myself, What moved them so much? I had done
nothing extraordinary; yet the visitors, convicted by
the Holy Spirit, cried, "Lord, forgive my sins," as
they wept and confessed their sins before God. I
turned my head to look at one of my assistants, and a
group of people sitting in that section fell to the
ground and began to pray. I looked in another
direction, and the same thing happened! An
atmosphere of power enveloped the church. It had
new life. I was astonished.

One day I received a word for my life straight from

the Lord. God told me that He was setting me up as a
door for Argentina. What did that mean? I could not
grasp its full meaning.

Less than two months later, multitudes of people

from all over the country crowded into my church.
Hundreds of pastors visited us each week. I received
invitations from the pastoral councils of many cities
all over the country to hold crusades in large
stadiums. Without having publicized my ministry at
all, some people even came from other countries to
invite me. I praised God for His greatness.

I understood that the Lord, in His sovereignty and

mercy, had chosen me as a door to bring renewal to
His people so that many would return to their first
love. Times of glory followed!

WHAT THE LORD LOOKS AT

I CANNOT UNDERSTAND God's election. I do not

even deserve salvation, and yet God looked at me for
His service. If I had been told ten years earlier that all
this was about to happen to me, I would have
answered, "Impossible!" I never thought that God
might set His eyes on me to serve Him in this
dimension. I had no great qualifications; there was
nothing attractive about me; I had no money. But the
Lord was not looking for those kinds of things.
When choosing a new king, He said to Samuel, "Do
not consider his appearance or his height, for I have
rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things
man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

I remember when we started the church in the

Belgrano district. Many had attempted it before us.
On those occasions, the church leaders had searched
for a great man of God for the area-someone who
knew how to deal with the businessmen and
professionals who lived in Belgrano. In time, God
took me there. I was never in anyone's plans; my
name was not on any list of candidates; but God
remembered me.

I identify with David. He was a country man, a

rustic peasant. He had no part in any important social
engagements. His commitment was to be with the
sheep, with the flock. And from there God chose him
and set him in a place that had been prepared for him.

I have a very special affection for pastors who

labor in the interior of the country and serve silently
in small towns and villages. I like to share time with
them. God loves them very dearly, although few
would seem to recognize their efforts.

Perhaps no man would think of you when making

up his plans, but let me tell you something: God
remembers. He has plans for your life which, in the
course of time, will leave you in a state of
astonishment. The Lord will break your forecasts and
go beyond your highest expectations. If you seek that
permanent relationship with the Holy Spirit, the grace
and the talents will be provided by God.

Rejoice, for God has chosen you!

 5

The Wonders of God

WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT reveals Himself

powerfully, great miracles occur. Those who witness
this move experience extraordinary changes in their
relationship with God as well as in their
circumstances. What God does is so precious! My
heart is filled with joy when a person says, "My life
was in ruins, and Jesus Christ saved me and
transformed me." This is similar to the experience of
the blind man Jesus healed. "One thing I know. I was
blind but now I see" (John 9:25). That is why I
cannot cease to exclaim: My God is real! He still
works wonders!

This chapter includes several testimonies that have

happened as a result of the move of the Holy Spirit
during our ministry. Some of these stories were
shared in crusades or before our congregation.
Others are testimonies of pastors and believers who
wrote to tell us of the blessings they had received.
They are testimonies that will stir your faith in the
midst of trials; they will help you believe in miracles
for your own life. You will join those who say, like
the psalmist, "Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples" (Psalm 96:3).

PASTOR PEDRO IBARRA

A FEW DAYS AFTER experiencing the renewal of

the Holy Spirit, I had the privilege as pastor of a
church and presbyter of the Assemblies of God to
receive in our church all the presbyters of the
country, as well as the national executive committee,
for an administrative meeting in accordance with our
yearly calendar. In the evening as the worship service
of our church was beginning, the presbyters decided
to stay and take part in the service. Pedro Ibarra, vice
president of the Assemblies of God, was one of those
present. This is his testimony of what happened:

How marvelous that day was! I shall never

forget it! I remember the meeting with the
leadership of the Union of the Assemblies of
God. It was a full day of administrative work:
papers, situations in connection with God's
work in the country, and other matters. We
held the meeting in the King of Kings Church
in the district of Belgrano, of which my good
friend the Reverend Claudio Freidzon is
pastor.

At that time a lot was being said about those

glorious worship services with powerful and
unusual manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
From the remarks made by the people, one
could sense happiness and a fascinating
expectancy among them. That was why in the
course of that day the subject of conversation
among the pastors was these worship
services. In spite of our crowded agenda,
some of us decided to stay on for the evening
service.

We had heard so many things that we could

hardly wait for the service to begin. I asked
myself, I wonder what will happen? I had
such hopes! My surprise rose as I saw a great
many pastors, not only belonging to our
organization but also from a number of
different denominations, all summoned by the
same Spirit.

One could sense an atmosphere filled with

unction, an unction that filled everything. And
suddenly Pastor Claudio appeared. I noticed
he was looking fresh, smiling, at ease. I had
thought I would see my friend looking
worried because of the responsibility of
ministering and satisfying the hunger for God
expressed by the people; but this was not the
case. Evidently he had the anointing. He
looked well. What peace! What natural
manners! He inspired confidence as he
greeted the pastors, giving them all a warm
welcome.

That anointed atmosphere grew as the service

developed, and the climax (which completed
my astonishment as well as perplexity) came
when I watched Pastor Claudio Freidzon
ministering. With no distinction of position or
hierarchy, the ministers-broken and
expressing their hunger for God-received the
powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. Some
laughed, others wept, some trembled, and
others fell as though they had fainted. They
were all well-known and experienced men.
This was not emotionalism. It was the very
presence of God, the presence that my friend
had sought in so many different ways. The
move of the Holy Spirit was the unavoidable
subject of long conversations during those
days when we had the feeling that God had
much more for our lives. I was now
witnessing that move as it became most
incredibly real.

Since that day, I see full churches and

stadiums with multitudes who are attracted by
God-all of this in our own country as well as
abroad. Pastors went back to their countries
from Argentina with their ministries
completely renewed, and through them their
churches were renewed as well.

When this ministration was imparted to me, I

went through a deep sense of brokenness
which included crying out and tears. God
Himself dealt with my life, showing me things
to which I had to die in order to honor the
price of His marvelous blessing. That was
how I learned that if His presence is
important, equally important is the life that
sustains it. I understood that it is not the
anointing that upholds my life; it is my life
which is the foundation and support of my
anointing.

In my humble experience I believe some

ministers were left on the road because all
they found was the touch. But God's touch is
only the beginning. Then comes the act of
giving in, of surrendering. How costly is the
price to be paid!

That is why my prayer is, "Oh, God! Be

patient with me, please. Try over and over
again until You have achieved it."

Today, as the years go by, I can see that this

anointing is intact in content and intensity. All
the ingredients with which it began in our
midst are still there. The difference is that it
has gone deeper and produced radical changes
in our lives as a consequence of a greater
knowledge of His marvelous person. The
novelty of the forms is no longer of
importance. What is of more interest is the
personal encounter and fellowship with the
Holy Spirit, together with a deep and renewed
 love for His Word-aspects which are then
translated into happy service and jubilant
praise, preparing us for genuine worship.

There were things that had to be corrected as

far as forms were concerned, but nothing that
was essential. It is always wise when a
moving of the Holy Spirit takes place to be
careful not to quench God's life and to
cooperate in order to keep the moving in its
right course.

Dear Betty and Claudio, forever... thanks!

THE RESULTS OF A RENEWED LIFE

WHEN THE HoLY SPIRIT fills a person, four

changes occur deep within that person's life.

1. A re ne we d love toward God

A sister from England testified in a meeting:

When the Holy Spirit came into my life in a

fresh manner, He said, "I want your heart. I
want your innermost being. I want to feel
your longing." And I realized suddenly that I
 was shouting. I even shook as if I were
having a spasm of love, a longing for God.
Very simply, I now love Jesus more. I am
very sorry I didn't love Him in this way
before! I love people more, and I hope they
will all be saved. Someone prophesied to me
two years ago that "from the hollow place
something sweet would flow." I now know
that it is love for Jesus, because there's
nothing so sweet.

In the same group of English people, another lady

who was the leader of a congregation, said:

I came because I had gotten to the limit of my

strength. There was no power in my ministry.
I'd lost all hope, and my love for Jesus was
becoming weaker and weaker. I knew I
couldn't go on like this. On my first visit to
Argentina I observed something among the
people that I didn't know about: You were free
to love Jesus, and you had great generosity.
After you prayed for me, my hope was
restored, and my faith returned.

2. A re ne we d worship of God
A Canadian man came to take part in a seminar in
Argentina, and we had a chance to enjoy a time of
prayer together. He wrote to me from Canada:

In our two morning services I spoke about

everything I had seen and experienced while I
was in Argentina. In the evening service there
occurred an outpouring of the spirit of joy.
The church was filled with people surrounded
by the Spirit of God. Some laughed and were
also healed. It was as though heaven had
opened up, and rain descended on us. People
suffering with depression were liberated.
Others who suffered from sleeplessness were
able to sleep through the night. A woman told
us that her husband, who was going through
a period of stress in his life, began to sing in
his dreams on a Sunday evening after he
attended the service. Fear was expelled from
many lives. Others said that an inhibition to
laugh had disappeared. For many the Bible had
become a reality. We felt as though a blanket
had been removed from over us, and the joy
of the Lord had become our strength. People
felt closer to God and intensely touched by
His love. When we experienced this
outpouring of the Holy Spirit as it is described
 in Joel 2 and Acts 2, we perceived that the
same power which brings joy also brings
miracles. In my heart I constantly hear the
Spirit saying to me, "This is only the
beginning, not an isolated experience." It is
fresh rain sent by the Spirit of God, and it will
continue to grow.

Another pastor from Texas wrote to me after some

meetings that we held there:

I do not know how to tell you about what the

Lord has done over the last few weeks. But I
can describe it with one single word:
Impressive! The fresh anointing of the Holy
Spirit has remained with us, in my life and in
the lives of the two pastors working with me.
On the Sunday following the meetings, as I
prayed, people began to fall. In every meeting
there are pastors who come to receive fresh
anointing. An awakening has commenced in
Houston, and I know it will spread to the
whole nation. Yesterday in my On the Rock
Church, we showed the video from Rosario.
An anointing fell with power as soon as
Pastor Carlos stood up to minister. God
practically repeated what He had done when
 you were here. And at another church where
I preached in the evening, the power of God
was released, and people lay stretched out on
the floor-some weeping, others laughing,
others looking on astonished.

3. A re ne we d Christian witne ss

I heard of a prayer chain started by a church in

Alejandro Korn, a town in the province of Buenos
Aires, after several of its members experienced the
renewal. A group of men decided to pray at different
times of the day. One of them decided to pray every
day at nine in the morning in the factory where he
worked. This brother sacrificed his break time, about
fifteen minutes' rest, to pray in the basement of the
factory. There he knelt and sought God's face.

"What are you doing?" another worker asked him

one day.

"I'm seeking God," he answered.

A few days later this same fellow-worker asked

him to pray for him and went with him to the
basement, where he accepted Jesus Christ as his
Savior. A few weeks later this newly born disciple
was filled with the Holy Spirit, and in the company of
his newfound brother in Christ he enjoyed a real
spiritual feast in that dark corner of the factory. But
that was not all. In time, fifteen of the workers of the
firm, instead of going for a soft drink or a cup of tea,
met at nine o'clock in the morning to pray and seek
God!

How much could be done if we gave place to the

Holy Spirit!

A humble worker had made such an impact on his

fellow workers because of the evidence of a life filled
with the Spirit. One day the owner of the factory
called him and asked, "Is it you who leaves them all
as though they were drunk in the basement?"

"I don't make anyone drunk," the man wisely

answered. "It's the presence of God that moves
them." Then he read chapter 2 of the Book of Acts.

"I don't know what you are all doing," the boss
said. "But since you've been praying, this place isn't
the same. Things have changed for the better."

How much could be done if we gave place to the

Holy Spirit!
4. A re ne we d holine ss

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is God's priority and the

fundamental evidence of a real renewal. "By their
fruit you will recognize them" (Matthew 7:16).

In Mar del Plata, a beautiful seaside resort on the

Atlantic in the province of Buenos Aires, people get
ready for the summer season in the month of
October. On the following occasion, preparations
were also being made for a spiritual event.

One of the city's five hundred thousand inhabitants,

a member of an evangelical church, heard his pastor
announce our arrival in the city for a revival meeting.
This believer, a waiter at a place where fast food is
sold, quickly checked to see if he would be free from
work the day we had scheduled the meeting. He was
thrilled to discover that it was his free day. He had
heard that the Lord was renewing His people, and he
held great hopes for his own life. He prepared himself
in prayer to receive a fresh anointing of the Holy
Spirit.

A few hours before the crusade was to begin, an

unforeseen circumstance upset his plans. Another
employee was unable to work on that Wednesday,
and he would have to take his place! What a
disappointment! But he decided to be obedient to God
and fulfill his responsibilities.

God made sure that this man's faith would be

honored because his life gave evidence of the fruit of
the Holy Spirit.

That meeting in Mar del Plata was a wonderful one.

Over two thousand people filled the church, and
God's presence visited in such a way that when the
service was over it was almost daybreak. After the
meeting, the pastors of the city invited us to have
dinner at a restaurant, but none was open except for
the fast-food restaurant where the man was working.
When he saw us arrive, he shouted, "I can't believe
it!" Excited, he told us what had happened to him.
We prayed for him with power, and he had his own
precious worship service right there at sunrise.

God made sure that this man's faith would be

honored because his life gave evidence of the fruit of
the Holy Spirit.

OPEN TO THE MOVING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE of ministering in

Spain on a number of occasions. After one of the
crusades, the president of a Spanish association of
pastors wrote to me:

Yesterday we had a meeting of all the pastors

to evaluate the results of the crusade and to
discuss what had happened in our
congregations. Our meeting was a repetition
of what happened during the crusade-for
those who had been unable to attend, God
also had a word. Here are some of the
remarks they made about the crusade where
you ministered to us:

One of the pastors said, "We felt God moving

in the gentle silence of His anointing."

Another pastor said, "We experienced, in a

tangible way, God's love."

Another said, "We experienced authentic

spiritual renovation. There was a restoration
of broken lives. The presence of God through
the Spirit was evident."

Unbelievers cried out, "Lord, where are You?

We want to know You."
 Brothers who had not spoken to each other
for years asked to be forgiven. Married
couples with serious problems in their
relationships fell under the power of God,
weeping and seeking forgiveness.

Rebellious sons and daughters became

reconciled to their parents and returned to
Christ. A tremendous brokenness was one of
the results. Pastors felt a strong desire to
spend time together with one another. People
fell under the power of the Holy Spirit, and
Christ transformed them.

This is the glorious work of the Holy Spirit, and it

is God's will for His church!

GOD'S PRESENCE THROUGH VIDEOS

THE VIDEOS OF OUR MINISTRY have been sent

to locations all over the world. Some churches have
scheduled special meetings to show the videos, and
believers have been touched by God in a glorious
way while singing and praying with us. Many people
write to tell us what has happened.

We were showing one of your videos, and as

we watched, I heard a noise behind us. Then
I heard another one. I asked my assistant
pastor to tell the people to please keep silent
because we were watching a video that was
really wonderful. I turned around and saw
that all the people had fallen on the floor under
the power of the Holy Spirit! It was so
marvelous that at one o'clock in the morning
they were still rejoicing in the Spirit, touched
by God.

-a pastor in Rosario, Argentina

We received the fresh anointing of God

through a video. We were watching it in
church and had to stop the video because the
worship service "exploded." A great blessing
was the outcome. The brethren felt they had
fire in their hands. Tremendous healings
occurred. The videos were shown in all the
churches of Neuquen, and we would like you
to visit us.

-a pastor's wife in Neuquen, Argentina

A video has come into my hands. It is one in

which you are ministering in the Obras
 Sanitarias stadium (in Buenos Aires). I can
assure you we have never seen anything like
it. On February 5, 1993, at 10:30 in the
evening, after watching the video I felt a
tremendous need to pray. I fell on my knees in
the hall where I was, and great peace flooded
over me, filling me with the joy of the Lord.
There was such love and renewal that my life
was totally transformed. At 5:30 in the
morning the presence of the Spirit was still
there. As I tried to get up, I could not. It was
as though I were drunk; I had never had a
similar experience. I have been a Christian for
ten years but was living a life of routine. I did
not praise God. I testified to no one. But today
I want to shout to the whole world that Christ
lives.

-a sister from Australia

HEALED FROM CANCER

WE HAVE A GREAT GOD, capable of doing

impossible things. Rejoice in His victory!

In the town of San Martin, a province of Buenos

Aires, a woman testified during our crusade
concerning the healing her son had received after a
traffic accident. The five thousand people who
attended this event rejoiced as she reported that the
young man was well after eight days of being in a
coma. Everyone was moved when she added, "But
here with me tonight is a relative of mine who's
suffering from terminal cancer." Immediately I asked
my coworkers to bring him up onto the platform. It
was evident that his physical condition was extremely
poor.

This Christian man underwent an operation to

remove a tumor in the colon. But when the surgeons
discovered that the illness had already spread, they
closed the wound and declared him entirely beyond
recovery. "There's nothing we can do," they told his
relatives. "He won't live more than six months."

Two years earlier he had lost his wife as the result

of a brain tumor. That same year doctors diagnosed
his own cancer in the colon. And the following year
his fourteen-year-old son died in an accident.
Surrounded on all sides by so much suffering, the
man went to Italy to seek a rest from his trials, but
there the doctors certified that the cancer had
invaded his pelvis, the urethra, and the bladder. Only
a miracle could change his fate.
 "I had only six months left," he related, "when I
heard that Pastor Claudio was about to hold an
important meeting in San Martin. So I said, `Lord,
this is my chance.' I went to that meeting a few days
after my operation with my wound still sore. There
were so many people that I couldn't get near the
platform even though I believed that I was to be
healed if I came near. I recalled the woman with the
flow of blood who said, `If I only touch his cloak, I
will be healed."'

This Christian was so excited when he was brought

to the platform. I asked all the people present to raise
their hands and praise God. I knew we were
surrounding the strong wall of a Jericho and that the
wall must fall. A profound and very intense clamor
arose as five thousand voices proclaimed victory for
the man. He describes the moment: "Right then, I felt
two strong punches on my abdomen, so I opened my
eyes in astonishment." He left the platform healed.
That very night he was able to eat normally for the
first time in many days. God had performed the
miracle.

About a year after that unforgettable crusade, this

man of God visited us in our church. He brought the
tomographic studies and blood tests which certified
that he had recovered completely from his illness. He
had gained nearly forty-five pounds, and his faith
was as strong as ever. He has since traveled to Italy
and Canada to testify and proclaim that his doctor's
computerized tomography studies and all the
scientific knowledge at man's disposal had confirmed
that it was the God of miracles who cured him.

SING, 0 BARREN WOMAN

I HAVE HEARD MANY testimonies of healing from

women who had been declared barren by modern
science. The Lord gave me a special faith to pray for
them and a sensitive heart to understand their sorrow.
Years ago, Betty's own pregnancy was in serious
danger when we were expecting our son Ezequiel.
God gave us the promise in His Word, "None will
miscarry or be barren in your land" (Exodus 23:26).

The Lord has shown His faithfulness to many

married couples who have been granted the child
they desired so much. Ruben and Isabel are
witnesses to this miracle.

Isabel was a young eighteen-year-old woman when

she married Ruben, a well-known soccer player, in
June 1975. Their first few years of married life had
been wonderful. Ruben was at the height of his
career, playing for soccer clubs in Colombia and
Venezuela, and they enjoyed a high standard of living.
Their marriage was firm, and they enjoyed good
communication and companionship. But not
everything was going according to plan-Isabel failed
to become pregnant in spite of her desire to have a
child.

"In 1976 I went to my first medical consultation,

but I didn't feel it was anything important,"
recollected Isabel. The following year she repeated
her examination with the best specialist in Colombia,
a medical doctor who had graduated in the United
States. She was unable to avoid some anxiety, but
she did not allow the situation to overshadow the
good times she was experiencing.

Disturbing news reached her from Argentina. Her

mother, whom she loved dearly, had had a surgical
operation for cancer of the stomach and left the
hospital with a guarded prognosis. Far from her
husband for five months, Isabel stayed with her
mother in Buenos Aires.

When she returned to Bogota, Isabel underwent

more studies in order to determine why she was
unable to become pregnant. "In July 1979 a
malformation was discovered in my Fallopian tube,"
she recalled, "as well as the complete obstruction of
the tube. This diagnosis was confirmed by another
doctor in Buenos Aires. A specialist on barrenness
recommended a series of hydrotubations to unstop
the tube. The treatment was given to me without
anesthesia, and the pain I went through turned out to
be futile. Even so, I continued to seek further
alternatives."

Meanwhile, her mother in Buenos Aires longed to

finish her days on earth with a grandchild in her
arms. "She wanted a grandchild. This was a further
reason for my anxiety and anguish. I wanted to
please her before she died, but the pregnancy refused
to come. All I managed to get was chronic gastritis
which had to be treated."

In November 1980, despite the fact that Ruben had

been given a good offer of work from the Deportivo
Cali Club in Colombia, they decided to move back to
Buenos Aires. A few days after their arrival, Isabel's
mother called to say farewell. She said that she
would very much liked to have had a grandchild, but
she was grateful for all the efforts they made for her.
To Isabel's surprise, her mother advised her to read
the Bible for guidance. The next day Isabel's mother
fell into a deep coma and died a short time later.

"It was the most sorrowful and frustrating day in

my life," Isabel recalled. "I couldn't stand such
tremendous sorrow. I ignored God-I was angry with
Him." For months Isabel could hardly sleep and
suffered from deep depression. Nothing seemed to
make any sense in her life. For a year and a half she
discontinued all treatment.

In July 1982, Isabel became pregnant. She was

advised to stay in bed and was given intramuscular
injections. After three months, an ecographic study
was made. The technician did not beat around the
bush. The uterus is empty," he told her. "Who told
you that you were pregnant?"

"What a tremendous disappointment!" Isabel

remembered. "Three months of suffering daily
injections, shut in, alone, and all for nothing! I felt
mocked. When I got home, I unhooked the telephone
and spent entire days crying in complete darkness. I
didn't want to see anyone.

Rebellion and animosity filled her heart. Isabel

began to withdraw from her husband, feeling
misunderstood. Not even their success in the
workplace managed to counteract her frustration. In
1989 she made a trip to France, where she had one
more medical consultation. The doctors suggested
that she try assisted fertilization; but Isabel was fed
up with so much interference with her body and
rejected the idea. "Enough! Be it as God pleases," she
told them, even though she was still far from God.
She went home to face marital separation and
financial failure.

In July of that same year Isabel and Ruben received

an invitation to come to our church. They arrived
feeling confused, already going through the steps to
obtain a divorce. I took time to pray with them, and
in the course of a personal interview I challenged
them to put their faith in Jesus Christ.

"I decided to obey God," remembered Isabel. "I

attended all the meetings of the church, because there
I found peace and happiness and was given love. I
felt better and finally had a desire to live. Toward the
end of 1989 I wrote a letter to Pastor Claudio in
which I asked God to give me confirmation of my
marriage during the course of the following year.
Those previous years had been very difficult for us."
 We began to pray for Isabel. Some doctors
suggested that Ruben and Isabel adopt a child, but
she was doubtful. The celebration of Mother's Day
arrived.

"Remembering my mother and my frustration at not

being able to be a mother," Isabel said, "I took refuge
in the church. But when the pastor announced that he
was going to pray for all the mothers, I looked up
toward heaven and said, `Lord, here, too, You
forsake me.' Instantly, before I could shed one tear,
Pastor Claudio added, `There is a barren woman
here, and God is telling me to tell her to get ready
because she has a child in her womb.'

"I experienced the fire of the Holy Spirit running

through my body in a way that was totally new for
me. A few days later I had a dream that I was at a
party in a beautiful hall. Everybody came up to me
with smiles, congratulating me on my pregnancy.
When I woke up, I had indescribable peace and
happiness. I asked myself what that dream could
mean. Then I heard an audible voice tell me to have a
urine analysis.

"I went out into the street, looked at the sun, and
cried: `What a beautiful day!'
 "Again I heard, `This will be the greatest day in
your life.' I went to the doctor for a test. At half past
three in the afternoon my heart burst with happiness
as I was given the results of the analysis. `What an
anxious mother!' said the specialist. `Nine months
won't be enough to calm down your anxiety!' Eight
months later I was holding Emanuel in my arms, the
sweetest testimony of the presence of God in us."

After sixteen years, Jesus performed the miracles

of restoring Isabel and Ruben's marriage and giving
them the child they desired so intensely. Today, Isabel
and Ruben are part of the body of Christ, together
with four-year-old Emanuel and two-year-old
Antonella, another gift from God. They confirm daily
the Word of the Lord in Isaiah 54:1, "`Sing, 0 barren
woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song,
shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because
more are the children of the desolate woman than of
her who has a husband,' says the Lord."

RESCUED FROM THE STREETS

KIDS LIVING IN THE STREETS are a dilemma in

our society. Kids with no home wander about in
streets and trains, with their own secret codes and
tragedies.
 Fifteen-year-old Jose Luis, otherwise known as "El
Chafa," had lived in the streets from the age of six.
His parents had separated, and his mother was now
living with another man. Their home was like hell,
and everything led to quarrels. He made up his mind
to get out.

He met other homeless kids in the same situation on

the trains. They moved about in gangs of kids
between the ages of seven and sixteen years. These
gangs were led by temporary leaders who rotated in
and out of leadership according to whether they
showed greater or lesser degrees of fearlessness or
slyness.

"In the group, to help one another we had to be like

brothers," recalled Jose Luis. "On the street I learned
to love, hate, and become a man by getting knocked
about. When a boy who lives on the streets reaches
the age of fourteen, he's a man. His mind isn't set on
playing with toys. He may wish to, but he's already
lost his childhood. Childhood has bounced out of his
hands."

Life was full of dangers: the cold shelterless nights

spent sleeping on the streets, walking alone at night
without the protection of the group or, worst of all,
being assailed by one's own memories. The wounds
of loneliness and family tragedies were too painful to
bear.

"When I saw parents walking in the public square

with their children in fine clothes, or riding bicycles
near them, I used to say, `What am I living for?"'

These children have lost all hope. They have no

expectations for life or the future. They might die at
any moment from a drug overdose, from an accident
or from being murdered. Each is a potential criminal.
Without God they are trapped.

"I used drugs just like the rest," said Jose. "I began
with adhesives because they were cheaper. Then I
went on to marijuana and finally tried cocaine, though
I didn't use it habitually because of its high price."

Jose Luis came to our church one afternoon with a

companion who shared his misfortunes and was
known as "El Tuerto" (One-eyed). They introduced
themselves as the "Poxi-ran" pair, which was the
trademark of the adhesive drug they used, inhaling it
inside small polyethylene bags. That day we invited
them to join "The Friends' Corner," a ministry of our
church especially for these kids. In this corner for
friends, the kids were bathed, given clothes, and fed.
We also talked to them about God's Word.

Many came to our church thinking they were going

to be great thieves or something similar. But as they
received the Word of God, their thinking changed.
They longed to have a family or go back to their
homes. Jose Luis was one of them. "Little by little I
began to accept the message I heard at church, and I
left feeling like a different kid. When I came up
against certain situations on the street, God reminded
me of His Word. My way of thinking and speaking,
and even my way of dressing changed."

After nine years in the streets, the love of God

reached Jose Luis. Very few people would recognize
him today. He is a young man who is devoted to the
Lord and evangelizes actively. When I see him
singing in the church choir my heart is filled with
gratitude to God. Today he lives with a precious
Christian family that is involved in the ministry of
helping street kids.

When these kids receive the gospel, they undergo a

tremendous change. When they come to church, at
first they have a high degree of distrust-even refusing
to give their names or say where they live. But as
they respond to the affection we give to them, they
become open and begin to share their lives.

Jose Luis, a youthful eighteen-year-old, now

understands the purpose for his life. "My dream is to
have a family and my own home; to preach the
gospel to all street kids so that they may live the life
I'm now living."

God still changes lives!

 6

Just a Teaspoon

ONE MORNING, at the River Plate Bible Institute

(Instituto Biblico Rio de la Plata), the dean was
working in his office, surrounded by a flood of
papers piled up on his desk. His secretary told him
that someone wanted to see him.

It was a former student. As soon as he saw her he

felt enormously pleased. It was a good chance to set
aside the pile of papers and bring to mind those
distant but wonderful student days. "Hello! What
brings you back to this place?" asked the smiling
dean. His smile turned to an expression of
bewilderment as he looked at the object in her
outstretched hand, and she began to cry.
 Between sobs, she said to him, "Pastor, the past
few days have been very special times for me. I've
been seeking the Lord deeply and meditating on His
Word. As I was examining my heart during one of
my devotional times, God showed me many things.
Among them, the Lord brought to my memory a
teaspoon with the initials of the River Plate Bible
Institute on it. He said to me, `Give the spoon back.
It doesn't belong to you.' That's why I'm here." She
had taken the spoon from the institute.

Not long after that, the dean related this remarkable

testimony of spiritual sensitivity to me. That young
lady obeyed the divine demand in relation to a very
small detail. She wanted the Lord's light to shine even
more in her life but first had to remove one of those
"little foxes" that ruin big harvests (Song of Solomon
2:15).

This story has a lot to do with the purpose of this

book-to witness to the work of the Holy Spirit in
these days-and, more particularly, to deal with the
whys and wherefores of the Holy Spirit's work. This
young lady, just like many other fellow Christians,
tasted this moving and had a share in it. The Lord
Jesus Christ visited her through His Spirit and
aroused in her an intense desire to please her
heavenly Father, even in small matters.

Some people may think we are giving too much

importance to such a trivial detail. Yet here is an
instance of two fundamental effects of the work of
the Holy Spirit-commitment and holiness. If these
fruits of the Spirit were lacking, all manifestations of
God's power would be devoid of sense.

CONFORMED TO THE LIKENESS

BACK IN THE SEVENTIES, in the classrooms of

the River Plate Bible Institute, I was reading a
textbook on theology by Myer Pearlman and
discovered these fundamental truths: "The Holy Spirit
descended to begin the work of building the body of
Christ. The perfection of the body of Christ is the
ultimate purpose of the Comforter." When God pours
out the Holy Spirit, He does so with His eternal
purpose in mind: He longs to have many sons in the
likeness of Christ (Romans 8:28; Hebrews 2:10-11).
God sends the Holy Spirit to prepare the church for
the work of the ministry and to make each one of us
mature and perfect, "attaining to the whole measure
of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:7-13;
Colossians 1:28-29).
 We are not orphans. The Comforter is with us in
order to aid us in the work of the Lord.

This sanctifying purpose can be seen in every

genuine move of God, and this is the reason why the
Spirit of the Lord is being manifested in our day as
never before. I believe this is only the beginning of
something even greater! Alongside the advance of
occult sciences, esoteric manifestations, humanism,
and the New Age movement, and all kinds of satanic
cults and religions, God raises His Spirit over every
nation, every village, and every city.

We are not orphans. The Comforter is with us in

order to aid us in the work of the Lord: to preach and
make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). It
is God who sanctifies us and sends us out to preach
His Word.

TRANSFORMED BY THE WIND

THE LORD SAID TO NICODEMUS, "The wind

blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but
you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is
going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John
3:8).
 One of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is the wind.
Myer Pearlman says, "The wind symbolizes the
regenerating work of the Spirit and indicates His
mysterious, independent, purifying, and life-giving
operations."

In recent years the Lord has given me the privilege

of taking the Word to multitudes in different
countries. Everywhere I have gone I have been able
to sense the effects of the powerful wind of the Holy
Spirit, transforming lives and raising them in power
and holiness. Truly "all the ends of the earth have
seen the salvation of our God!" (Psalm 98:3).

When I minister in stadiums or when I am with my

own congregation, my aim is to obey the command
the Lord has given me: to direct souls to the presence
of Christ in adoration. Do you know why? Because I
know positively that a personal encounter with the
resurrected Christ, the Christ of glory, produces
holiness and power in those who worship. And this
would be impossible without the help of the Holy
Spirit who has come to glorify Christ (John 16:14). It
is the Comforter who helps us in our weakness. We
would never accomplish this on our own.

Our ministry today consists of directing people to

seek an encounter with their Savior through the Holy
Spirit (John 3:1-16). It is only when we are in the
presence of Christ glorified that we experience
brokenness and reap the results of changed lives.

If you really hunger for the Holy Spirit, if you long

for communion with Him more than for anything else
in life, I want you to receive these keys God has
taught me through the years, so that you can attain a
deeper relationship with Him.

The love of God should never deteriorate or grow

old. When the Lord fills us with His Holy Spirit, we
recover our first love and begin to walk as sons of
light. When living in such a glorious dimension, you,
too, like the young lady at the beginning of this
chapter, will long to please Him in everything-even
when it comes to returning a little teaspoon.

The love of God should never deteriorate or grow

old. When the Lord fills us with His Holy Spirit, we
recover our first love.

The Bible says that in the latter days "the love of

most will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12). My heartfelt
hope is that as you read this book you will exclaim,
"Lord, I want to recover my first love. I long to have
an encounter with You!"

THE GLORY OF GOD OVER A SCHOOL

WHEN A CHILD OF GOD is filled with the Holy

Spirit, astonishing things happen. The anointing of
the Holy Spirit makes an impact on those around him,
even on those who are most unbelieving.

In 1993 I was invited to hold a big crusade in

Santiago, the capital city of Chile. Over twelve
thousand people convened on a single day in order to
have an encounter with Jesus Christ and to be filled
with the Holy Spirit. The Lord moved gloriously!
Never had an Argentine preacher managed to hold a
meeting with such an audience in the neighboring
country of Chile. But it was the Holy Spirit who
arranged the convocation.

A young girl attended this crusade together with her

family. This young girl, who came from the
Penalolen district in the city of Santiago, was filled
with the Holy Spirit while sitting in the audience. The
glory of God descended on her life, and she was
completely renewed. She radiated the fragrance of
Christ.
 Throughout the week she went back to her daily
activities attending a girls' school in the vicinity. But
she never suspected that something astonishing was
about to happen to her in that very place! Pastor Italo
Frigoli confirmed the details. This is what happened
at her school:

It was examination day, and there was an

excited atmosphere in the classroom as the
girls waited for the dreaded hour to arrive.
Small, tightly knit groups of students crowded
nervously in and around the classroom, going
over what they had studied while they waited
for their teacher.

The young Christian girl was preparing in a

different way. She and two other Christian
classmates were seeking God in prayer. In
silence they formed a small circle in one of
the corners of the classroom and prayed on
behalf of their exam. The glory of God that
rested on their lives suddenly began to
manifest itself.

The whole atmosphere in that place changed.

The air became electrified, and the rest of
their classmates, who up to that moment were
absorbed in their own matters, were shaken
by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Nobody
could explain what was happening, but one by
one they all began to weep and groan under
the presence of God.

The three young Christians turned around to

see what was happening. They noticed that
several of their classmates had fallen on the
floor, weeping as they did so.

On the floor below this classroom in another

room, a different group of girls was receiving
instruction. They were completely ignorant of
what was going on in the classroom above
theirs. Yet the same phenomenon began to
occur there also!

It was quite astonishing. The glory of God

was being poured out on that school!

Someone advised the school authorities that a

very special situation had developed in the
central area of the school building. On two
different floors, both students and teachers
were all weeping. Some groaned, and others
just could not hold themselves upright. And
 what was even more amazing was the fact
that no one could explain the reason why this
was happening! The school authorities were
puzzled. They were unable to find a
reasonable answer to explain the phenomenon.

Humanly speaking there was none. But when a

child of God is full of the Spirit, impressive things
happen! Supernatural manifestations shake the
spiritual atmosphere and break the status quo of
normal life so that many will look up to God.

Our lives are to be "living messages" of God to the

world.

LIVING MESSAGES

OUR LIVES ARE TO BE living messages from God

to the world. Such was the life of Ezekiel the prophet
to the people of Israel. This man of God, with his
obedient behavior in all things, was a sign for the
people (Ezekiel 24:24).

As Ezekiel began his ministry, the Lord struck him

dumb for a while. Can you imagine a prophet who
was unable to speak? Yet Ezekiel's silence was a
word of rebuke to the rebellious people who refused
to listen to the voice of God (Ezekiel 3:22-27). Even
his silences were a message from God.

The Lord states in His Word that we are a "letter

from Christ ... known and read by everybody" (2
Corinthians 3:2). When people see us and get to
know us, they should be able to read clearly, "Christ
lives! He is real!"

A day will come when Christians will cause an

impact on the world by their very presence. Our
witness will be so powerful that, just like the apostle
Peter, even our shadow will heal the sick (Acts 5:15).
I am waiting for that day to dawn!

A day will come when Christians will cause an

impact on the world by their very presence. A
Christian filled with the Holy Spirit will be noticed
wherever he goes.

A Christian filled with the Holy Spirit will be noticed

wherever he goes. The fragrance which issues from
him will be "the aroma of Christ among those who
are being saved and those who are perishing. To the
one we are the smell of death; to the other, the
fragrance of life" (2 Corinthians 2:14-15). Inevitably
something must happen!
 This is one of the fundamental purposes God has
for pouring out His Holy Spirit. "You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you
will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). The behavior and
words of a Christian filled with the Spirit are bound
to make an impact (Psalm 45:1). The "streams of
living water [that] flow from within him" will make a
most powerful impact on others. If we are filled with
the Spirit, in one way or another all those who are
around us will see the evidence of our new birth.

For several days the one hundred twenty disciples

met in the upper room to pray, and yet the people in
the city did not notice them. But when the Holy Spirit
descended and filled those disciples, such an uproar
was created that multitudes gathered at the door.
Three thousand were saved on a single day (Acts
1:2).

Through the prophet Isaiah, our Lord says:

Awake, awake, 0 Zion, clothe yourself with

strength. Put on your garments of splendor, 0
Jerusalem, the holy city.

-Isaiah 52:1
 There is not much difference between a dead
person and a "sleeping" Christian. It is true that the
sleeping person has life, but God cannot count on
him to do His work

You are to be a protagonist in the kingdom of God.

You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and
surrender your life to Christ in daily fellowship. And
if you do so, do not be surprised at what is bound to
happen to you!

You ARE NOT THE SAME

CHAPTER 4 OF THE Gospel of Luke helps us better

understand the purpose of God's anointing. In this
passage our Lord Jesus Christ, after having read the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah, indicates that He (the
divine Word sent from heaven) was the specific
fulfillment of that prophecy, as well as the fulfillment
of all of God's eternal words.

The prophecy declares, "The Spirit of the Lord is

upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19, KJv).

While speaking of the Lord's Servant, this text

highlights the divine purposes for anointing a person's
life with the Holy Spirit. "Because he has anointed me
to...." The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives,
with His fullness and power, has a "to," a purpose:
"To preach good news to the poor ... to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners" (NIV).

THE RESTORING WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

IN OUR CRUSADES we have heard tremendous

testimonies from Christians who felt wounded and
defeated in their spiritual lives but who were restored
and healed as they opened their hearts to the fullness
of the Holy Spirit. And not only the members of
churches have been restored; many pastors have also
come forward to receive this blessing.

It fills me with joy to discover that pastors and

church leaders are receptive to this mutual
ministration. It is an eloquent sign of humility and
brokenness. It is a beautiful sight when different
ministries visit one another and express mutually,
"What God has given to you, what you have
received, I would like you to share with me. I would
like you to teach me and minister to me." In this way
we fulfill the Scripture which states: "Each one
should use whatever gift he has received to serve
others, faithfully administering God's grace in its
various forms" (1 Peter 4:10).

"What God has given to you, what you have

received, I would like you to share with me. I would
like you to teach me and minister to me."

In Argentina and all over the world leaders, longing

to seek excellence for God, do not hesitate to ask for
help from others. This is really marvelous. And how
we leaders need a fresh blessing from the Lord!

Following this attitude, more than four thousand

pastors have visited our church and made contact
with our ministry. There were moments in our
meetings when so many pastors were present that
members of our own church could not gain access
to the meetings. These fellow servants came with a
hunger for God, ready to see and verify the moving
of the Spirit. There were testimonies of restoration,
and they continue today.

I remember in particular the precious work the

Holy Spirit wrought in one pastor's life. Ricardo
Saavedra, a good friend of mine for many years, and
his wife were renewed for ministry.

Ricardo serves the Lord in the city of Mendoza,

Argentina. This city, capital of the province of the
same name, is on the western side of our country. It
is in a lovely region bordering Chile on the other side
of the imposing Andes range. The highest peak in the
American continent is found on this range: the
Aconcagua, a mountain which rises nearly seven
thousand meters above sea level. It boasts beautiful
views, an extraordinary climate (with lots of sun all
year round), and a most kindly and warm people.
Ricardo Saavedra and his family moved to this
province to substitute for another pastor who was
leaving his church to go on a journey.

For many years Ricardo had served God in

Argentina, and he felt that God was guiding him to
move to this new field of ministry. He longed with all
his strength to pursue a fruitful ministry.

He arrived with great expectations, but it did not

take him long to realize that he had a great spiritual
battle ahead of him. The enemy appeared to have a
stronghold over the various sections of the city. Even
the city's pastors and their congregations perceived
this great oppression.

Ricardo Saavedra was a presbyter of the

Assemblies of God. As he visited the churches in
Mendoza he found the same spiritual situation in all of
them. A great battle was raging, and few
congregations were growing in strength. This
impoverished spiritual climate made his labors as a
pastor very difficult.

Other factors contributed to his difficulties: an

excess of activities (in addition to being a pastor and
a presbyter, he was president of the pastors'
organization of the city); a serious financial situation
that was suffocating him; and, finally, the loss and
illness of some dear ones.

These adverse circumstances had affected his

family as well. No longer able to put up with so
much pressure, his wife fell into a severe depression.
His family resided in an apartment above the church
building, and he tried in vain to persuade his wife to
go down stairs and take part in the worship services.
All she wanted was to be left alone. She was finding
it difficult just to deal with her responsibilities in the
home.
 Extremely discouraged, he thought his ministry had
come to an end. Believing it impossible to go on with
such problems in his own home, he decided that he
should leave the church.

As he traveled to Buenos Aires to attend to some

business, he thought about requesting a leave of
absence from his pastorate. He was not aware that
the Lord had begun to pour out the glory of God in
Buenos Aires as the book of Joel had promised. "And
afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people"
(Joel 2:28). Many churches were going through a
time of spiritual renewal. There had never been
anything like it before.

Some good friends of his who owned a Christian

bookstore told Ricardo what was happening, but he
had to go back to Mendoza that same day and could
not stay for the weekly service. Nevertheless, the
seed had been planted in his heart.

Ricardo Saavedra decided to return to Buenos Aires

to be present in the first worship service ... he said,
"This is the last thing I'm attempting."

As the move of God continued in our ministry, it

became necessary to rent a stadium for the weekly
service. This six thousand-seat stadium, which
belonged to the Obras Sanitarias Club, was near our
church building, thus alleviating the problem of the
flood of visitors that overflowed the hall of our
church. Before this, people had stood in a line over
two hundred yards long, and many were unable even
to get in the building when the service began.

Ricardo Saavedra decided to return to Buenos Aires

to be present in the first worship service we planned
to hold in the stadium. As he told his wife good-bye,
he said, "This is the last thing I'm attempting."

As soon as he passed through the stadium gates

that night, he began to weep as the presence of God
brought a tremendous conviction of sin to him. He
could not stop weeping throughout the praise and
worship time. Even as I began my message he wept.
When I recognized him among the crowd, I asked
him to come forward so that we could pray for him.
What happened next was simply astonishing.

The Bible teaches us that where the Spirit of the

Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). Chains
fall off in the presence of the glory of God, and
freedom and victory come to the lives of people.
That night as Ricardo Saavedra received the Word of
God, his heart was filled with the holy presence. He
felt the glory of God, the very same glory that was
present on Mount Sinai; the glory that was manifest
in the upper room and entered the hearts of the
disciples at Pentecost; the glory that opened the gates
of the prison at Philippi as Paul and Silas worshiped
the Lord; the glory of the Son of God which was
revealed to the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos-
that same glory filled his life and renewed him.

When the meeting was over, Ricardo Saavedra

went to the home of another pastor to spend the
night. He was thoroughly moved and remained in a
state of spiritual ecstasy until the following evening.

As he returned to his province, he traveled the more

than six hundred miles that separated him from
Mendoza feeling as though he were up in the clouds.
As soon as he opened the door of his house, his wife
realized that something was different. "You aren't the
same. Something's happened to you," she said.

The next day was Sunday, and they held the main
worship service of the week. When Ricardo
Saavedra stood up behind the pulpit, he knew that
victory had come to his church. They had a glorious
worship service. Renewal invaded the congregation.
Many of the members came to him afterward and
said, "Pastor, you're very different today." And it was
true.

During that meeting the oil of the Holy Spirit healed

the wounds that his wife held in her heart. The
healing of the Spirit was so great that she began to
rejoice in the Lord in a way that she had been unable
to do for months. It was a miracle! She continued
rejoicing for over six hours. Her depression had been
completely overcome.

That night she could not sleep. But her mind was
not disturbed by problems and pain as it had been
before-she was unable to sleep because of the joy she
felt. She prayed, "Holy Spirit, continue to work
deeply in my heart." The next day she was a different
womaneven her looks had changed. The period of
defeat had come to an end, and a glorious move of
the Holy Spirit filled the church. The promise of
Nehemiah 8:10 became evident: "The joy of the Lord
is your strength."

Today the Lord is using Ricardo Saavedra and his

wife in a tremendous way in Mendoza. The church,
which had been overwhelmed by a cruel spiritual
battle for a long time, now breathes an atmosphere of
victory. The number of members has grown, and
they have started new churches.

We praise God for having poured out His anointing

"to heal the brokenhearted"! Soon after Ricardo
Saavedra's victory in Mendoza, the city's pastors
invited me to hold a crusade. There was such an
expectation, such hunger for the Lord, that the
churches in Mendoza rented the soccer stadium
where the 1978 world championships had been held.
In that stadium of world championship fame,
fourteen thousand believers celebrated a victory for
Christ.

It was an unforgettable evening. Miracles and

healings occurred, joy overflowed, and a feeling of
victory prevailed. At half past one in the morning,
under an intensely cold sky, thousands of people
were still worshiping God. Even as an icy cold rain
known as water-snow began to fall, all of the people
remained in their places praising God.

As I take part in such wonderful gatherings and see

crowds converted to Christ, I remember with
gratitude all of the missionaries who have came to
our land. Today we are reaping the harvest they
sowed with their tears. The extent of God's work is
unlimited. My ministry, which reaches out to all
nations today, is one of the fruits of the believers
who left their own countries and came to sow the
seed of revival in these hard soils.

I believe the presence of the Holy Spirit will

continue to work more and more every day in our
lives and that we shall witness things we have never
imagined.

Move forward. God wants to anoint you so that

you will fulfill His purposes. May your life show the
fruit of the Holy Spirit and holiness and commitment
to God. May your life be a testimony to the Lord's
power and restoration.

Move forward, because this is your time. This is

your hour!
 7

Accustomed to the
Glory of God

ALTHOUGH THERE are characteristic signs of a real

awakening on a universal level, that awakening must
begin with you. It doesn't happen instantaneously; it
is a process. A relationship with God must be
developed.

The Book of Acts is filled with the experiences of a

handful of men who were completely transformed by
the Holy Spirit. Peter is one of them. Preachers have
gone to great pains to emphasize the apostle's virtues
and his defects from a biblical perspective. But, I
would like to highlight what the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself said about Peter when He called him to be
His disciple. "Jesus looked at him and said, `You are
Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas'
(which, when translated, is Peter)" (John 1:42).

Right from the beginning, biblical history reflects

the prophetic character of the names given to the
people of Israel. The Jews used names with
meanings that were very clear to everyone. The name
Abraham means "father of a multitude" (Genesis
17:5). God gave him this name before Isaac was
born. Everyone called him "father of a multitude"
when they called him by his name, even if they did
not believe it, some actually made fun of him.

In other cases the names arose out of

circumstances surrounding the births. The name
Jabez means "pain." Can you imagine yourself being
called "pain" by everyone? His mother named him
thus, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain" (1
Chronicles 4:9). Nevertheless, Jabez overcame the
adversity indicated by his name, and the Bible says he
was "more honorable than his brothers."

Our Lord Jesus Christ prophetically received the

messianic name Immanuel, which means "God with
us" (Isaiah 7:14).
 Simon, a temperamental, impulsive fisherman, was
given the new name Cephas, or Peter, which means
"rock." At the time that Peter was called by the Lord,
as well as during his first few years in the ministry,
he seemed more like a pebble than a rock. His
changeable temperament and his unstable faith had
very little in common with the firmness and
permanence of a rock. Yet with eyes of faith, Jesus
proclaimed to Peter, "I tell you that you are Peter, and
on this rock I will build my church" (Matthew
16:18). By calling him a rock, Jesus linked him with
solidness and strength. How marvelous that the Lord
should see him thus! He called "things that are not as
though they were" (Romans 4:17).

How does this process come about in our lives?

How can we be transformed into a rock?

A ROCK RELATIONSHIP

WE ARE SPEAKING of a process whereby every

believer must develop a personal relationship with
God. I do not believe in instantaneous
transformations; men and women of God are
transformed neither by violent nor by abrupt change.
A process of transformation is achieved through
relationship only.
 We see this process illustrated in Jesus' parables
concerning the development of the kingdom. In the
parable of the sower it is quite evident that God's
revelation is progressive (Matthew 13). The seed (the
Word of God) must fall on good soil that has been
properly plowed and has been made ready to receive
it. Then the seed dies, breaks open, sprouts new life,
and finally the fruit appears. This is never an
instantaneous process.

Men and women of God are transformed neither by

violent nor by abrupt change. A process of
transformation is achieved through relationship only.

Spiritual growth does not develop with the

swiftness of modern life and its instant coffee, fast
food, and high-speed highways. Everything these
days has to be quick. But on God's road there are no
shortcuts. For spiritual growth, as for all growth,
there is a maturing process. In God's kingdom we
are not born as adults, but as babies, and we grow as
children under the care of our heavenly Father
(Ephesians 4:14-16; 1 Corinthians 3:1; Hebrews 5:13-
14).

This process is illustrated in the figure of the clay in

the potter's hands in Jeremiah 18:1-6. Just as the
potter shapes the clay, God works progressively
through the Holy Spirit to shape us according to the
model of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are not like cheap
trinkets, imitations of real jewels, which do not take
long to produce. We are like diamonds that are
produced through a long process of being
pressurized beneath the earth.

In my own case the process was slow. Some

people may think that by attending a worship service
or having a pastor lay hands on them, their lives will
change instantly. This could be true for some. No
doubt God can use other ministries to complete the
work that He has been doing in our hearts. But it was
not so for me. I had to go through long times of
divine dealing, of waiting, of preparation, and
brokenheartedness which molded me for the stage in
which I live today.

Whatever stage we may be going through in our

walk with the Lord, there is a substantial difference
between being filled with the Holy Spirit and not
being filled. Peter went through a period of
stumbling, defeat, and insecurity. But Jesus had
promised the disciples they would receive power
when the Holy Spirit came on them, and they would
be His witnesses. That promise became a reality for
Peter in the upper room as he and the rest of the
people gathered there were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Peter lived that wonderful experience when "suddenly
a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from
heaven and filled the whole house where they were
sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire
that separated and came to rest on each of them. All
of them were filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:2-4).
That experience with the Holy Spirit marked Peter's
life from that moment on.

Peter walked with Jesus for three years. He lived

through the most glorious moments of the Lord's
ministry. He witnessed how Jesus healed the blind
and calmed the sea. When he had to make a stand for
Christ, however, he refused to do so. But in the
upper room when he received the fulfillment of
Christ's promise, the fullness of the Holy Spirit
enabled him to become a faithful witness.

We do not change because we witness miracles and

wonders. Only an upper-room experience can
transform us-a personal experience with Christ
through His Holy Spirit.

The lesson is clear. We do not change because we

witness miracles and wonders, nor do we change
because we attend a beautiful worship service. Only
an upper-room experience can transform us-a
personal experience with Christ through His Holy
Spirit.

We are to go where Christ is. A longing arises from

our hearts to go to our Savior and Helper. "My soul
thirsts for God" (Psalm 42:2). We are in this world to
seek Christ. And the Spirit of Christ takes us into the
Lord's presence.

The Lord Jesus, who because of the Father's love

was sent to this world, has poured out this present-
day latter rain as promised in the books of Joel and
Acts: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my
Spirit on all people" (Acts 2:17; see Joel 2:28). This
rain of the Spirit is what we witness to in the pages
of this book.

ACCUSTOMED TO THE GLORY OF GOD

IN ARGENTINA IN THE EIGHTIES, the Lord

raised up a famous and formidable evangelist named
Carlos Annacondia. Through his ministry the Lord
performed great miracles which were an
accompaniment to the preaching of the Word.
 But in time it became evident that there was great
danger ahead. Many of the believers who had
witnessed supernatural manifestations in the life and
ministry of Carlos Annacondia reacted in a different
way in the nineties. They seemed to lose interest in
the things of God.

Carlos Annacondia told me that many of those who

at one time supported his crusades were no longer
doing so. Why? Because they had become
accustomed to the supernatural. Remember that a
change of heart does not occur simply as a result of
witnessing miracles and wonders.

Change did not occur in the case of the soldiers

who went to arrest Jesus. When they found the
Lord, they fell to the ground as He said, "I am He."
But then they got up ... and crucified Him.

Change did not occur in the case of Israel either.

Chapter 32 of the Book of Exodus tells of a painful
moment in the story of the people of Israel. They
turned their backs on God to commit the terrible sin
of idolatry by making for themselves a golden calf to
worship. Only three months had passed since they
left Egypt with a "mighty hand." As they left that land
of slavery they saw the waters of the Red Sea
wondrously divided to allow them to go through on
dry land. They saw the pillar of cloud by day and fire
by night, day after day. Manna from heaven appeared
before their doors each morning; water issued from
the rock at God's command. The people lived in daily
touch with the supernatural miracles and
manifestations of God's power.

In Exodus 19 God revealed Himself to the people

on Mount Sinai. "On the morning of the third day
there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud
over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast.
Everyone in the camp trembled" (Exodus 19:16).
Later, in fear and trembling, they said, "Do not have
God speak to us or we will die" (Exodus 20:19).
Then an incredible thing happened. Only a few days
more, and the people built a golden calf and
worshiped it!

How could the people, only three months after

leaving Egypt and seeing so many miracles and
wonders performed in their midst, leave God to
commit the terrible sin of idolatry? Have you ever
stopped to think about this? I would like to offer
three answers to this question.

1. They had become accustomed to the

 supernatural, to the glory of God.

In Exodus 19 the people evidenced reverent fear in

the presence of the glory of God on Mount Sinai.
They were moved. But then they began to get
accustomed to the glory and became indifferent to it.
Perhaps they said, "This is something we see every
day!" Even before Moses descended from the
mountain they had forsaken their faith.

2. They took the Word of God lightly.

This is what God told them: "You shall have no other

gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an
idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the
earth beneath or in the waters below" (Exodus 20:3-
4). But they sinned because they did not take God's
Word seriously.

3. They did not cultivate a personal relationship

with God.

The Israelites failed to express their love for God in

the manner emphasized to them by Moses (see
Deuteronomy 6:5; 7:9). They said to Moses, "You
speak to God and tell Him ... and ask Him...." They
did not attempt to establish a personal relationship
with God on their own; they relied on a middleman.

"Even if you have failed Me, even if you feel frail, I

will raise you. You will be like a rock!"

Believer, let us refuse to live on borrowed faith. Let

us not depend on other Christians. It is our personal
relationship with God and our love for Him that, in
the final analysis, count. In this day God demands
that we seek Him more, that we hunger and thirst for
His presence. In an intimate walk with Him we shall
experience marvelous changes.

If we seek the Lord, He will fill us with His Spirit.

He will say to us as He said to Peter, "Even if you
have failed Me, even if you feel frail, I will raise you.
You will be like a rock!"

Two KEY ASPECTS

AWAKENING HAS TO BEGIN in your own life.

There are two things which nobody else can do in
your place: 1) have faith, and 2) hunger for God.
These simple guidelines will lead to the experience of
a victorious Christian life. The Word of God teaches
that those who possessed these two things eventually
obtained their reward.
To have faith

To have faith is to obey God. It is to be filled with

His faith, believe His Word, and believe everything He
promises to us. The people of Israel kept forgetting
the precious promises given to them by God. In
Psalm 105 we can read about the glorious wonders
that God had done among them. But Psalm 106 tells
of the attitude the people adopted: "They forgot the
God who saved them, who had done great things in
Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome
deeds by the Red Sea" (Psalm 106:21-22).

The Book of Hebrews says they lost the land

"because of their unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). Faith is a
characteristic sign of every man and woman of God.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God"
(Hebrews 11:6). We received eternal life when we
expressed faith in His work, in the righteousness He
obtained for us on the cross at Calvary. That is how
our Christian lives began, and that is how we should
continue.

When I had my personal encounter with the Lord, I

opened my heart to Him and said, "Lord, if You really
love me and care for me, come into my heart." And
He came into my life! From the first instant, I saw
the world in a different light. I looked at nature and at
people with different eyes. I had been born again, but
that new birth urged me forward to achieve new
goals, take new steps, and go on to new stages. In
that wonderful life of faith, the Lord called me to
ascend mountains never imagined by me in order to
be with Him.

To hunge r

To hunger is to long to be filled by God. To be an

anointed Christian, full of blessing, Jesus said,
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness" (Matthew 5:6). These words imply to
hunger for Christ and thirst for a life lived the way
He lived His. This is possible when the reality of the
kingdom of God can be seen in our manner of living,
in the way we bring up our children, and in the way
we conduct ourselves in society. Our lives become
faith made visible.

A hunger and longing for the glory of God in

greater measure caused me to seek His face with all
my heart. As a result, in 1992 I experienced a
powerful flow of the One who was within me.

Many people believe that God works in their lives

from the outside in, but Jesus clearly taught that
streams of living water would flow "from within" us
(John 7:38). The Word teaches us that "the one who
is in you is greater than the one who is in the world"
(1 John 4:4).

There is a fountain within us, a life that is locked

up, a river that is held in. For it to flow, we need to
be broken, to be humbled, and to become wholly
dependent on the Lord.

In these times God calls us to feel unsatisfied, just

like the poor fellow who says, "Lord, I need You. I'm
not satisfied with what I have. I want more of You
and more of Your presence. I'm not yet satisfied
because I know I've received a small portion only of
that great ocean.

There is a fountain within us ... For it to flow, we

need to be broken, to be humbled....

So that you can understand the point, imagine for a

moment that you approach the ocean nearest your
home and pick up a small amount of water in a little
cup. Such is the variance between what we know of
God and what He really is-a mere drop in a great
ocean.
 Use your faith in God and your hunger for God as
the catalysts that will birth revival in your own heart.

TOWARD A GREAT AWAKENING

MANY TIMES THE PEOPLE who attend our

crusades will ask me, "Is this a revival?" In the
course of the previous three years of intense ministry
I have observed many impressive manifestations of
the workings of the Holy Spirit. But recently God
revealed His will for the church in these times. As
Jeremiah instructed, "This is what the Lord says:
Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient
paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and
you will find rest for your souls" (Jeremiah 6:16).
The church must get back to the ancient paths; it
must go back to the basic principles of the Word.

The New Testament opens with the basic

commandments of the Lord Jesus. These basic
principles upheld the awakening experienced by the
New Testament church and will be the foundation of
His work in us today.

The ancient paths lead to the preaching of the need

for genuine and honest repentance which every
Christian must express to God. The Holy Spirit that
we have witnessed has wondrously blessed the
church with various manifestations of His power. We
have witnessed people falling under the power of
God and remaining prostrate before Him for hours;
entire stadiums enjoying His presence; and people
dancing and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord. But
beyond these manifestations must come real
encounters with God that produce repentance and
confession of sins. Jesus called men to repentance
and then to obedience, the fruit of repentance.

The first evidence of obedience is baptism in water.

Then comes the baptism in the Holy Spirit that John
the Baptist anticipated. "After me will come one who
... will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire"
(Matthew 3:11). The word fire is symbolic of the
Holy Spirit. Fire purifies, consumes, and transforms.

Under the power of the Holy Spirit we may fall,

tremble, or laugh, but none of these manifestations
will change us. God does move in these ways, but
we must not set our eyes on such manifestations.
What will change our lives is the fire that fell on
Pentecost, the same fire that was evident in the lives
of the apostles. This fire was also evident in
Jeremiah:
 There is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones, and I am weary with
holding it in.

-Jeremiah 20:9, RSV

This burning fire directs us back to the ancient

pathsour first love-to a reverence and fear for holy
things.

Within the context of the ancient paths, the Holy

Spirit can move in signs and wonders (Mark 16:17-
18). Even though these signs may appear amazing to
us, they have been present in almost every awakening
of the Holy Spirit. For many years we have been
praying for God to send us an awakening. It would
be wise to let an awakening do its work in its own
way.

Are we in the midst of an awakening? I believe we

have reached a preliminary stage where we are
conscious that the Lord is a powerful reality in us, a
glorious reality which is revealed when we worship
Him. In this sense, the glory of God is manifesting
itself in a tangible form in many parts of the world.

True awakening occurs when society realizes that

Christ lives and begins to make decisions in
recognition of the fact that He is Lord of lords. The
fruit of such a move should lead believers to think
outwardly, expressing concern for the souls that are
perishing. Such a move should not be limited to
manifestations, healings, miracles, and wonders; on
the contrary, it ought to produce in the Christian a
desire to pray for lost souls to be converted to the
Lord Jesus Christ.

Here then is the key, the final purpose of God's plan

for these days: that every tongue, nation, and tribe
shall have a chance to hear and see a living and
powerful church announcing the gospel.

An awakening comes as a consequence of God's

mercy. It attracts our attention, and we realize that
the Lord is more than our religious routines and
traditions.

A study of different periods of history will reveal

the fact that an awakening comes as a consequence
of God's mercy. It attracts our attention, and we
realize that the Lord is more than our religious
routines and traditions.

Some people may not be willing to accept the fact

that we do not have to compromise our biblical
foundations to be open to the possibility that God
might surprise us with a new demonstration of
transforming power. God starts His work with the
church in the first place. Remember that the Lord
prepared the disciples beforehand, breathed on them,
and commanded them to wait in the upper room.
After His power fell upon them, He sent them to the
uttermost parts of the earth with the powerful gospel
of His Word. This is precisely what is happening
today. The Lord is preparing His church. He is
renewing a sense of passion and love for Jesus in the
church. He is restoring the ancient paths-the
foundation-and stressing a spirit of holiness and
truth.

In recent times I have seen people with a greater

interest in reading and studying the Holy Scriptures in
order to understand and know God better. The power
of God has brought greater love for God and lost
humanity.

During the great awakenings of the past, such as

those in which Jonathan Edwards took part, a deep
passion for lost souls moved preachers to plead and
weep for entire cities. Christian leaders held
campaigns where thousands upon thousands of
people came to the Lord's feet. When an awakening
of the Holy Spirit is in process, when there is hunger
for the Spirit of God, it produces a renewed love for
God and for lost souls.

Another sign of a visitation of God on His people is

the spiritual authority with which the church is
endowed. I have never before seen the church so
strong and in such a position of victory. Believers no
longer fear the forces of evil; we are beginning to see
and understand that Jesus Christ has conquered evil
and given us power over the kingdom of the enemy.
This outpouring of the Holy Spirit has strengthened
us in the area of spiritual authority.

An awakening is more than signs, testimonies,

diverse manifestations, and miracles. It is something
much more substantial. It is a hunger to seek God for
the salvation of the lost.

In Patagonia, Argentina, in the province of Rio

Negro, lies the small town of Ingeniero Jacobazzi,
with about six thousand inhabitants. In this town, not
far from San Carlos de Bariloche, Pedro Sepulveda
has been serving the Lord for many years. His
ministry is a good example of how God's anointing
should be channeled and of the wonderful things He
does for the lost ones.

Pedro Sepulveda was one of many pastors who

traveled to Buenos Aires and was present when the
Lord visited us in such a glorious manner in 1992.
On October 12, 1992, he arrived at the stadium of
the Obras Sanitarias Club. It was an astonishing day.
So many people came seeking the Lord that we had
to hold two meetings. Even then, some were unable
to get into the meetings. Delegations came from all
over the country, with their buses blocking the
streets. The people arrived very early in the morning
and formed long lines while waiting to take part in the
worship service. There was such hunger for God!

Pedro Sepulveda took part in the meeting and

enjoyed the glory of God. He drank in the Holy Spirit
and then left impregnated with that atmosphere of
victory. His "spiritual ceiling" had been raised.

He returned to Ingeniero Jacobazzi in the early

hours on a Sunday. That day the worship service
was a real celebration. For four hours they rejoiced in
the presence of God. The streams of living water
flowed from the pastor's inner being, and the entire
church was renewed.
 At a particular moment in the course of the
meeting, Pedro Sepulveda called all the young people
to the front so that he could pray for each one of
them. In that atmosphere of glory, two long lines of
young people waited for the Lord's blessing. The
pastor laid his hand on the first young person in the
line, and the entire group of young people fell under
the power of God.

The young people of that church were filled with

the Spirit. They wanted to pray, read the Word, and
preach. In five months the youth group tripled in
size.

In two years the church had doubled its

membership. Fifteen percent of the town's population
converted to Christ and now attend that church.
Pedro Sepulveda has held meetings in a stadium
where 30 percent of the town's inhabitants were in
attendance. Several of the church's members have
held important government positions in the town
since then. Without a doubt, Ingeniero Jacobazzi
knows that Christ lives! God has used this pastor to
bring revival to other churches in the area, as well as
to the church in the neighboring country of Chile.

It is time for us to open up and let the Lord send

His early and latter rains upon our lives. This is a
time, as John 14:12 says, when we too should do the
things He did, seek to follow Jesus' plans, and live in
the wonderful unity for which He prayed to the
Father in the seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel.
 8

Transformed Into
the Glory

HAVING EXPERIENCED such glorious encounters

with God, both in solitude as well as in the company
of thousands of fellow believers, and having
witnessed His power and discovered that He could
use me as a vessel for His honor, I asked the Lord,
"And now, my God, what is the next step?"

The Lord led me to His Word. He impressed upon

me the need to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit aflame
and to follow biblical guidelines in order to do so.
Next He gave me a renewed hunger for His glory, for
an experience similar to that spoken of by the prophet
Hosea: "Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on
to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he
will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth" (Hosea 6:3).

Scientists who study the universe have discovered

that, as the Bible states, the stars are uncountable.
Scientists are discovering new ones all the time.
Whenever they extend their vision beyond the
known, they verify the fact that their search for the
boundaries of the universe has not come to an end.
So it is with us. In the face of the incomparable
greatness of God, the closer we come to Him, the
more His glory surprises us. We exclaim, "Lord, I
still need to know You better! I hunger for You!"

The glory of God is fully revealed in Jesus Christ,

the Son of God. He is "the radiance of God's glory
and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews
1:3). But God wants us to have an even greater
revelation of Himself today than we had yesterday.
Habakkuk the prophet announced that "the earth will
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
as the waters cover the earth" (2:14). How much of
His knowledge we discover depends, to a great
extent, on our personal search for it.

Let us bow before Him in worship. Let us search

for Him in His Word. Let us cultivate our relationship
with Him. And, as a consequence of the presence of
the Holy Spirit, His glory will become real in our
lives.

THE NEED TO SEE His GLORY

You MAY BELIEVE that a desire to live in a glorious

dimension of the Spirit is a utopian ideal, just hollow
mysticism or mere emotionalism. Nothing is more
removed from reality! The desire to experience more
of God is the greatest need of our lives. We were
saved when we heard the gospel. We begin to see the
glory of God reflected in Jesus Christ's face as we
receive spiritual light from the Holy Spirit.

God's Word reveals that contact with His glory puts

us in touch with God Himself. "For God, who said,
`Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine
in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians
4:6).

When we seek a close, intimate fellowship with

God, when we are exposed to His Word, the Holy
Spirit shows us God's face-His glory-and we
experience a transformation. "We, who with unveiled
faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being
transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit"
(2 Corinthians 3:18).

We need to see and experience the glory of God!

Contact with the glory of God changes us
powerfully. That was why the psalmist cried out:

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for
you, in a dry and weary land where there is
no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld

your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life, my lips

will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live, and in your

name I will lift up my hands.

-Psalm 63:1-4

THE FACE OF GOD

ONE DAY MOSES opened his heart before God and
from the depths of his longing said to Him, "Now
show me your glory" (Exodus 33:18). Moses enjoyed
a unique relationship with his Creator. No other
member of the people of Israel knew such
fellowship. Moses had experienced extraordinary
encounters with God at the top of Mount Sinai. He
had seen miracles and wonders. But his heart wished
to see God Himself. He longed for a full knowledge
of His glory.

We need to see and experience the glory of God!

Contact with the glory of God changes us
powerfully.

The Lord answered, "You cannot see my face, for

no one may see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). Moses
had to be content with a view of God's back (Exodus
33:23); he was given only a partial revelation of
God's glory. There was not as yet a perfect sacrifice
that would allow perfect fellowship with the all-
powerful God. And yet that partial vision transformed
Moses. His face was impregnated with God's glory.
"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the
two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not
aware that his face was radiant because he had
spoken with the Lord " (Exodus 34:29, italics added).
Moses, having touched only a little of God's glory,
made such an impact on the people that, in fear, they
asked him to cover his face.

As Peter and John with the Spirit's anointing were

defending Christ's cause before the council, they
caused great wonder among the men. What courage!
What wisdom! But most amazing was the fact that
the people "took note that these men had been with
Jesus" (Acts 4:13). Isn't it time for people to see us
and say the same thing? As children of God, we can
make an impact on this world if we will spend time in
the presence of His glory. God's glory is found on the
face of Jesus Christ. Should we not go after it?

God wants to make His face shine upon us. The

priestly blessing that He established for His people
declares, "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord
make his face shine upon you and be gracious to
you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you
peace" (Numbers 6:24-26).

The psalmist exclaimed, "Answer me quickly, 0

Lord; my spirit faints with longing. Do not hide your
face from me or I will be like those who go down to
the pit" (Psalm 143:7). When we are outside of His
presence, we feel as if we are about to die. How
empty life becomes when there is no fellowship with
God! But when God's face shines upon us, words
become unnecessary. In deep silence we contemplate
His beauty. His glory surrounds us and lights up our
faces. We find ourselves on holy ground. No wonder
the psalmist exclaimed:

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I

seek: that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the
beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his
temple ...

My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your

face, Lord, I will seek.

-Psalm 27:4, 8

OUR REACTION BEFORE HIS GLORY

No HUMAN BEING can fail to notice the glory of

God when it is manifested. Our frail beings react
before its presence. That was John's experience.
"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
Then he placed his right hand on me" (Revelation
1:17).
 Daniel testified of this experience when he said, "So
I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no
strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was
helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened
to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the
ground" (Daniel 10:8-9).

No human being can fail to notice the glory of God

when it is manifested. Our frail beings react before
its presence.

Habakkuk was extremely moved in the sight of

God's holiness: "I heard and my heart pounded, my
lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my
bones, and my legs trembled" (Habakkuk 3:16).

When believers face the glory of God many

different reactions take place. When visiting our
church, Donald Exley preached about three of these
reactions, all of which should be present.

1. Holy and re ve re nt fe ar

The revelation of God's holiness leads us to humble

ourselves in fear before Him. His glory makes us
conscious of the deep chasm between His character
and ours. As we reflect on His glory we are bound to
exclaim, "Woe to me! ...I am ruined! For I am a man
of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord
Almighty" (Isaiah 6:5). Moses, too, said, "I am
trembling with fear" (Hebrews 12:21).

The revelation of God's holiness leads us to humble

ourselves in fear before Him. His glory makes us
conscious of the deep chasm between His character
and ours.

At one of our meetings the glory of the Lord was

strongly manifested. It would be very difficult to
describe what was happening at that moment. (How
can one explain glory?) A pastor was visiting the
worship service with his daughter, a young woman
who had consecrated herself to the Lord. From the
moment they arrived, this young lady held onto her
father's hand and kept saying to him, "Dad, I'm
afraid. I'm frightened." Her fear had nothing to do
with the people around her nor with the worship
service. She was conscious of the reality of the glory
of God, and this moved her to a holy fear.

The people of Israel trembled at the very sight of

the reflection of the glory of God on Moses' face.
And yet Moses had seen only His back!
 When Moses dedicated the tabernacle, the cloud of
the glory of the Lord descended and filled it. No one,
not even Moses, was allowed to go inside (Exodus
40:35). The same thing happened when Solomon's
temple was dedicated. All the priests had to stop
what they were doing when the Lord's glory filled the
entire place. Could it be that the time has come for all
believers to stop what we are doing to bow down
before the glory of God?

Don't take these times lightly. When God manifests

His glory, it produces fear of the Lord in us and a
desire not to offend Him.

2. A de e p de sire to be made holy

Sanctification should be the natural consequence of a

glorious encounter with the glory of God.

God required sanctification of the people in Israel

(Exodus 19:10-11). Prior to the visible manifestation
of the glory of God on Mount Sinai, they were to
sanctify themselves and prepare to be in the presence
of a -holy God.

We cannot present ourselves before the Lord with

our lives in disorder. This was the tragedy in the case
of Nadab and Abihu. They had taken part in the
consecration of the priests (Leviticus 9:22-24). They
saw the shekinah, the glory of God, descending on
the tabernacle and fire coming out from the presence
of God to consume the offering, a symbol of
surrender and consecration. But the next day they
attempted to offer incense to God with their lives in
disorder, using unauthorized fire that God had not
sent, and they were consumed by God's wrath
(Leviticus 10:1-2). They did not acknowledge His
glory or prepare to meet Him in the holiness that He
demands of His people. They were unable to
distinguish between what was holy and what was
worldly. They may have considered God as a means
for fulfilling their ambitions.

We should be motivated to seek sanctification from

a deep realization of God's love, not from the fear of
being punished. After an experience in the presence
of the glory of God, our desire will be to please Him
in everything. We do not want to lose sweet
fellowship with the Holy Spirit, for He communicates
the glory which is in Christ. We do not want to
grieve the Holy Spirit or offend Him. The Song of
Solomon expresses this intimate relationship
poetically: "I delight to sit in [the] shade [of my
lover], and his fruit is sweet to my taste. He has
taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me
is love" (Song of Solomon 2:3-4).

After an experience in the presence of the glory of

God, our desire will be to please Him in everything
we say and do.

When we are under "the cloud of glory" we are

protected, refreshed, and guided according to God's
will. There is no better place! With great pleasure we
will prepare our garments so we don't miss the joy of
His fellowship.

3. Worship and joy

The glory of God compels us to worship Him. He

does not reveal Himself only to produce some
emotional effect, to calm our nerves, or for some
other similar reason. He wants to be acknowledged
and worshiped. When His glory becomes manifest in
our meetings, we forget the time. There is no
schedule. The Holy Spirit causes us to prostrate
ourselves and worship Him without restraint. It is a
marvelous experience. His joy overflows and floods
us.

God is joy. His presence brings joy. In such a

dimension there is healing for the soul and the body,
and this joy makes us more beautiful than any kind of
makeup or beauty treatment the world can offer
(Proverbs 17:22; 15:13). The glory of the Lord gives
us beauty.

Zephaniah offers a beautiful picture of God with

His people: "The Lord your God is with you, he is
mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he
will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you
with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17).

This is what we are experiencing at the present

time: glorious and powerful meetings. It is God
rejoicing because of us. We hold festivals in the
presence of His glory! His joy is our strength
(Exodus 5:1; Nehemiah 8:10).

Recently a research program revealed that children

laugh four hundred times a day, whereas adults laugh
only fifteen times. I wonder when we lost three
hundred eighty-five other occasions of laughter?
Praise be to the Lord who reveals His glory by
restoring joy and praise to His people!

GOD'S TABERNACLE
THE TABERNACLE IS A PRECIOUS figure that
God gives us as a model to help us understand the
relationship of Jesus Christ with His church and the
manner by which we can approach God.

The tabernacle was the itinerant temple of the

Israelites during their pilgrimage in the desert. It was
God's abode in the midst of His people (Exodus
25:8). Likewise, it was the place established by God
where worship was to be offered to Him.

Applying these truths in the light of the New

Testament, we find that, in these days, God's abode
and His place of worship are the church of Jesus
Christ. You and I are "a dwelling in which God lives
by his Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22). We are responsible
for offering worship to Him by presenting our lives
"as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-which
is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).-

The compartments of the tabernacle illustrate the

way to deepen our fellowship in glory with the Lord.
The tabernacle was divided into two large areas and
one smaller area.

1. The oute r courtyard

The courtyard was surrounded by a white linen wall
more than eight feet high. Only the Levites and
priests were allowed through the one and only door
(thirty feet wide) into the outer courtyard. The people
had to be content to observe the proceedings from
outside. In the outer courtyard were two sacred
objects, the "bronze altar," or altar of burnt offering;
and the "laver," or washbowl.

2. The te nt (the tabe rnacle prope r)

The tabernacle proper was a rectangular tent forty

feet long by fifteen feet wide. Inside the tent there
were two chambers, both of which are referred to in
Hebrews 9:1-5.

The Holy Place was the larger section. Only the

priests were allowed into this Holy Place in order to
carry on their ministry to God in the worship service.
The Holy Place contained three pieces of furniture:
the table with the consecrated bread, the lampstand,
and the altar of incense which faced the thick curtain
separating the Holy Place from the second chamber,
the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies (vv 2-3).

The Most Holy Place was the smallest room of the

tabernacle as well as the most sacred one. Only the
high priest went into this room once a year on the
Day of Atonement. In the Most Holy Place was the
ark of the covenant, with its covering (the atonement
cover or mercy seat), and cherubim carved in gold.
Here the glory of God was revealed in visible form,
the shekinah. The presence of God became visible in
the shape of a brightly lit cloud, appearing over the
blood poured over the atonement cover (mercy seat)
and the cherubim of glory.

A passage in Hebrews refers to the Most Holy

Place:

Therefore, brothers, since we have

confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way
opened for us through the curtain, that is, his
body, and since we have a great priest over
the house of God, let us draw near to God
with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from
a guilty conscience and having our bodies
washed with pure water.

-Hebrews 10:19-22, italics added

This is the greatest invitation we can think of? The

Most Holy Place represents heaven itself. "For Christ
did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a
copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to
appear for us in God's presence" (Hebrews 9:24).

This is what Stephen saw when he was about to

become a martyr: "But Stephen, full of the Holy
Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God,
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. `Look,'
he said, `I see heaven open and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God"' (Acts 7:55-56).

I have good news: The heavens are still open! The

glory of God is as close to you as the word that
reaches your mouth from your own heart (Romans
10:6-9). Just close your eyes and say, "Jesus." The
heavens will be opened for you.

The glory of God is as close to you as the word that

reaches your mouth from your own heart.

We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place

by the blood of Jesus. When the Lord broke His body
on the cross, He split the spiritual curtain which
separated us from His presence. We who now form
part of His church have "a new and living way" open
to the glory which is in Him.
 I want to invite you to follow the road that leads to
the Most Holy Place just as the high priest did (do not
forget that you are now in a position to do so). In
this chapter and the next, we will go through the
outer courtyard, pausing at each of the main objects
of the tabernacle: the bronze altar, the laver, the table,
the lampstand, the altar of incense, and finally, the
ark of the covenant-the manifest glory of God.

Through their symbolism, each of these objects

provides profound teaching for our devotional life.
These biblical principles will lead you on, if you
practice them, to a glorious dimension in your
fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE

THE BRONZE ALTAR was the largest object in the

tabernacle and the first one to be encountered on the
way to the Most Holy Place. There the animals which
the law prescribed for the various sacrifices were
killed. It was a place of worship and death.

This altar represents the cross of Christ. We are

saved by believing in Christ who died and was
resurrected; and when we are baptized we declare
our full identification with His death and resurrection.
But the message of the cross summons us daily: "If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke
9:23).

What does it mean for us to deny ourselves? It

means that we must be prepared to say no to our
will, intellect, and emotions when they are contrary
to God's will. Thus we die daily. We cannot barter
with God. He will always want everything from us. It
would be futile to try to keep some part under our
own tutelage, for we would then lose the glory.

It hurts to die. Sometimes it involves giving up

certain things. One may not understand the reasons,
but God will say, "That thing is not good for you. I
don't want that in your life."

There is no glory without the cross. We want the

glory, but the glory has a price: our lives.

There is no glory without the cross. We want the

glory, but the glory has a price: our lives. Jesus was
willing to pay that high price, as He perceived with
joy the results of His willingness to surrender His life.
This is what Hebrews 12:2 expresses: "For the joy
set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning
its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God."

An altar is a place for worship, but at the same time

it is a place of death. The sacrifices on the bronze
altar testified daily to this fact.

The first time the word worship is mentioned in the

Bible is in Genesis 22:5, when Abraham was on the
way to the mountain for the purpose of sacrificing
his only son. "He said to his servants, `Stay here with
the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will
worship and then we will come back to you."'

This is a solitary experience. No one, except God,

will fully understand the price of our surrender.
Nobody can carry our cross for us. Nonetheless,
when we hand over to God that which we love-our
plans, time, family, or work-we worship God in spirit
and in truth. Real worship consists of placing our
whole lives on the altar and saying, "Not as I will, but
as you will" (Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 26:39).

While we pause at the altar of sacrifice, we can

take three actions to prepare ourselves as a sacrifice
of worship to God.
1. Pe rsist in praye r.

Many Christians do not like to have the glory of God

in their prayer lives, because they do not practice
prayer with discipline. They are not prepared to die to
comforts or to their own plans in order to devote
time to prayer. At times I have been asked, "Why do
your meetings last so long?"

My answer is always the same: "Fellowship with

the Holy Spirit usually requires time." Why do we
find it so difficult to understand something so simple?
The men of God who have made an impact on the
world have all been, without exception, constant and
persistent in prayer. They were not satisfied with a
few routine moments of daily prayer.

We are always ready to preach, read a book, or

work for God. But when it comes to a life of prayer
we realize that our old self shies away from it. We
must overcome the tendency to pull away from times
of prayer. We must silence all the voices that tempt
us to give up our spiritual search. We need to devote
time to earnest prayer. The first few moments are
usually difficult, particularly if we have given up
regularity in our prayer lives. Our wills resist the
weight of the cross. We want to quit and do other
things. The secret is in staying on our knees whether
or not we feel the blessing. We are to believe that
God rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews
11:6).

Our search in prayer doesn't have to follow a rigid

method, but we need to long to meet with God alone
in prayer. Good Christian music can inspire our
worship. Reading the Word aloud opens up our inner
being to the workings of the Holy Spirit.

The altar invites us to submit everything to God.

Let us persist in seeking His face. It is very likely that
after spending some time in prayer, you will
experience the peace of the Holy Spirit. Your burdens
and anxieties have been handed over to the Lord
(Philippians 4:6-7). My advice is, do not stop! It is
only the beginning. Your problems no longer occupy
a predominant place in your life, and you can focus
on God Himself and on your personal fellowship with
Him. As you do, the glory of God can reveal itself.
The Word of God can speak to your heart as an
indescribable silence occurs.

2. Wait in the Pre se nce of God.

How important it is to learn how to wait in the

presence of God! Before Pentecost the disciples were
ordered to wait. "Stay in the city [Jerusalem] until
you have been clothed with power from on high"
(Luke 24:49). Before hearing God's voice from the
cloud of glory, Moses had to wait. "The Lord said to
Moses, `Come up to me on the mountain and stay
here, and I will give you...."' (Exodus 24:12).
Obviously, we do not like to wait! But waiting offers
great benefits.

1. Waiting indicates that God has priority. We

cannot come to God in a hurry, expecting to
set our own conditions. We come to His
presence with due respect. I am His to order-
not the other way around! As the Scripture
says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he
turned to me and heard my cry" (Psalm
40:1).

2. Waiting allows God to work in us and

weaken our wills, so that we will give in to
His will. This is part of the altar of sacrifice.
Just as the farmer prepares the earth before
sowing the seed, so God deals with our
roving hearts and prepares us to hear His
voice as we wait in His presence.
 3. Waiting indicates the seriousness of our
request. When we really want something we
wait persistently.

We do not easily forget our request. The search for

God should not be based on our emotions, but on a
daily and constant will to find Him. We often blithely
declare, "Lord, I long to know Your glory." But our
behavior does not agree with the longing. We quickly
give up the search. When we really do long to see
God's glory, we are ready to wait in the presence of
the Lord, to spend time with Him. Imagine that a
young man declares his love to a young lady. She
might say to him, "Give me some time to pray over
this matter." We can be sure that the young man will
wait for her! He is greatly interested in her answer.
This is how we are to long for God's glory.

How great is the value of waiting on our knees! Once

the Lord has lit the fire of the Holy Spirit in our
hearts, we must keep the flame alive. Leviticus 6:12-
13 reminds us that "the fire on the altar must be kept
burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest
is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on
the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings
[or peace offerings] on it. The fire must be kept
burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out."
 In the tabernacle a priest had the daily responsibility
of looking after the fire. He had to take away the
ashes and add more wood each morning. We can
imagine him on cold, early mornings hunting for
wood in the desert, loading it on his shoulders, taking
it to the altar, and putting it on the fire. His service
provides us with a clear lesson: We cannot maintain
our spirituality without effort and daily dedication.

It is a principle of nature that all fires tend to go

out. I experienced this simple truth on one of my first
dates with Betty. We had just formalized our
courtship, and I invited her to spend a day in the
countryside. I made all the necessary preparations to
treat her to a good Argentine barbecue, meat cooked
on the coals in the typical manner of our country.
Though I had little experience in this matter, I hoped
to make a good impression on her. But I very soon
discovered that I was in trouble-it was not so easy to
keep a good fire going!

Relationships also deteriorate if we do not tend to

them. A married couple keeps the flame of their love
alive by cultivating their relationship with friendship,
faithfulness, and companionship on a daily basis.
Otherwise, a couple may become like the wife who
said to her husband as they drove down the road,
"Darling, do you remember when you used to drive
with one arm around me?" And the husband replied,
"I'm still sitting in the same place."

Our relationship with God could become like that

couple's relationship. The Lord is still there, as
always, very near to you. But maintaining fellowship
with Him depends on whether or not you draw near
to Him. God exhorts us as follows: "Do not put out
the Spirit's fire" (1 Thessalonians 5:19). If we do not
tend it, the fire goes out. We need to pursue God's
presence. We must remove the ashes of sin and
worldliness and arrange our altar every morning. God
wants us to "keep [our] spiritual fervor" (Romans
12:11).

The prophet Jeremiah was called to minister to a

stubborn-hearted people. He faced adverse
circumstances and persecution. But when his heart
began to fail him, the fire in his heart sustained him.
"But if I say, `I will not mention him or speak any
more in his name,' his word is in my heart like a
burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of
holding it in; indeed, I cannot" (Jeremiah 20:9). It
was a fire fueled by love and commitment-the same
fire God wants to light and keep burning in your life.
 Through the presence of the Holy Spirit you can
experience the call to move ahead, to continue the
battle, and to keep clean and holy for God's work.

On the way to experiencing the glory of God we

have to stop at the altar of sacrifice, die there, and
keep the flame of sacrifice burning every day.
 9

Forever in the Glory

THERE CAN be no greater delight than walking in

daily fellowship with the Holy Spirit. What a glorious
experience! But it is imperative to seek the Lord
continually. "Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in
the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain
in me" (John 15:4, italics added). In the first ten
verses of John 15, the verb remain is used eleven
times.

Our first love ought to be a constant reality, always

present. Unfortunately this reality is not always
evident in our lives. The delight of daily fellowship
with God was not evident in the believers in Ephesus.
Although the Ephesian church abounded in
praiseworthy works, it is recorded that they had
"forsaken" their "first love" (Revelation 2:4). They
had slipped from the privileged position where they
were "seated with him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus" that the apostle Paul mentioned in
Ephesians 2:6. Therefore, the Lord was compelled to
exhort them, "Remember the height from which you
have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.
If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove
your lampstand from its place" (Revelation 2:5).

A Christian becomes weak in his faith when he no

longer maintains his first love. He becomes "a
professional" worshiper-he knows what happens in
church; he learns a few Bible verses; he adopts some
religious vocabulary; he serves God in a token
ministerial aspect; and then he insists, "I know it all."
How sad! That Christian has lost his first love. Jesus
is no longer his delight. He has become lost in his
religious routine and needs to repent.

Why does the fire of the Holy Spirit tend to go out?

Because we set aside simple principles that we
disdain in order to seek other answers. Reading the
Bible, praying, avoiding sin, witnessing to the lost-
these are practices we must not abandon if we do not
want to quench the fire of our first love.

Experiencing the glory of God is not simply a hope

for the future. We can rest in Him daily and serve
Him with all our strength in the center of His will.

Experiencing the glory of God is not simply a hope

for the future. We are to live in triumph today, in an
atmosphere of glory in the heavenly places with
Christ. We can rest in Him daily and serve Him with
all our strength in the center of His will.
Consequently, the challenge for these times is keeping
the flame of the Holy Spirit alive, remaining in the
things we did at first, in our first love.

Let us move daily with a firm determination to go

to the altar of sacrifice where we surrender our lives
in prayer! Then let us approach the Most Holy Place.

THE PURIFYING WATER IN THE LAVER

THE LAVER, OR BASIN, for washing is the next

sacred object we encounter on our way to the Most
Holy Place. It is the place of purification or cleansing.

Every day before ministering at the altar of sacrifice

or entering the Holy Place, the priests had to wash
their hands and feet. The Lord ordered Moses, "Make
a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing.
Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar,
and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash
their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever
they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with
water so that they will not die. Also, when they
approach the altar to minister by presenting an
offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash
their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is
to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his
descendants for the generations to come" (Exodus
30:18-21).

We cannot have fellowship with God if we are not

prepared to be washed. The Lord said to Peter,
"Unless I wash you, you have no part with me" (John
13:8). Hebrews 10:22 tells us we must draw near to
God "having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from
a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed
with pure water."

The laver was fashioned with mirrors made of

polished bronze that were donated by the women of
Israel. Water for cleansing was placed in the basin. In
spite of the detailed heavenly instructions that God
gave for the building of the tabernacle, the size of the
basin was omitted. This is a beautiful testimony to
God's character: His love and grace are
immeasurable. He is ready to forgive and transform
anyone who seeks Him sincerely with a repentant
spirit. Like David, we can cry out, "How priceless is
your unfailing love! Both high and low among men
find refuge in the shadow of your wings" (Psalm
36:7).

Re ading and me ditating on the Word of God

The beautiful figure of the laver speaks to us of the

Word of God that revives the soul (Psalm 19:7).
Ephesians declares that the Lord gave Himself up for
the church "to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word" (Ephesians
5:26). God cleanses us through the Scriptures.

Reading the newspaper and watching the news on

television do not reveal much that is positive of
cleansing. We find only news of a world in crisis, of
a world that is suffering. These sources report on
only what is human and, as a consequence, produce
only anxiety and fear. But the Word of God is a
source of blessing and cleansing for our lives.
 In the Bible we discover the record of tremendous
and remarkable events of God's dealings with His
people. It is a record of good news. The Lord invites
us to reflect on His good news. "They will speak of
the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will
meditate on your wonderful works" (Psalm 145:5).
When you feel anxious, remember that the same God
who opened the Red Sea will open doors in the
deserts of your life and come to your rescue.

The Bible teaches us to meditate on the Word of

God continually. "Blessed is the man who does not
walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way
of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he
meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:1-2). We must
know His Word, for it is the wellspring of life. The
Bible says very clearly, "My people are destroyed
from lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).

In addition to the wisdom we glean from the Word

and the wisdom that has been revealed in the living
Word Jesus Christ-we also have the best teacher: the
Holy Spirit. We can pray, "Holy Spirit, You who
inspired men and women of God in the Scriptures,
speak to me, teach me, and show me the truth."
 "Holy Spirit, You who inspired men and women of
God in the Scriptures, speak to me, teach me, and
show me the truth."

The mirrors donated by the women of Israel for the

laver illustrate the work of the Word of God in us.
Each morning as we look at ourselves in a mirror,
our images are reflected in the mirror. All our defects
become visible-the beard that needs to be shaved, the
puffy eyes, the blemishes-the realities of daily living.
But a mirror does not only reveal our defects; it also
helps us to correct them. While facing it we are able
to tidy ourselves up and make ourselves look good.

This is what occurs with the Word of God. As we

read it or listen to anointed preaching from the Word,
the Holy Spirit reveals the condition of our hearts in
the sight of God. The Word judges us and reaches
into places no one else can reach in order to bare our
lives in our own sight. "The word of God is living
and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's
sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before
the eyes of him to whom we must give account"
(Hebrews 4:12-13).
 The Word's judgment, which begins with the house
of God, is not intended to condemn but to cleanse (1
Peter 4:17). The laver, with its stand made of bronze,
reflected the filthiness of the priests but provided
them with abundant water for cleansing. Just as in
the case of a mirror, the Word of God shows us
what attitudes we need to change and leads us to
repentance.

When the Word of God touches us, the repentance

that results is more than pure emotion. True
repentance allows the Holy Spirit to work in us. God
is the only One who can reach beyond the emotions
to man's spirit, giving him a new life that transcends
what is superficial or mediocre and becomes
spiritual.

The incomparable authority of Jesus is rooted in

His absolute obedience to the Word of God. With full
confidence He could challenge His enemies: "Can any
of you prove me guilty of sin?" (John 8:46). The
Word tells us that when Jesus finished the Sermon on
the Mount "the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
because he taught as one who had authority, and not
as their teachers of the law" (Matthew 7:28-29). The
crowds perceived that Jesus lived as He taught,
unlike the religious teachers of His day.
 Because He lived in perfect obedience to the Father,
Jesus had complete authority to give orders to the
spiritual and physical world. "When evening came,
many who were demon-possessed were brought to
him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and
healed all the sick" (Matthew 8:16).

The laver, with its stand made of bronze, reflected

the filthiness of the priests but provided them with
abundant water for cleansing. Just as in the case of a
mirror, the Word of God shows us what attitudes we
need to change and leads us to repentance.

Do we want to be anointed and to have authority?

Then we must meditate on the Word of God! Let us
obey it; let us allow the Word to transform us. Let us
read it with a humble attitude that asks, "What is God
saying to me today? What does He expect of me?"
Don't begin with Genesis-first read the Sermon on
the Mount. Meditate on these verses. Look at
yourself in the mirror of the Word. Don't expect
God's anointing to fall on you as you wander
aimlessly from one place to another much the same
as a "channelsurfer" changes channels on a television
set. God will pour out His glory when you stop to
meditate on His Word and seek His face.
 As we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit teaches us
God's secrets for growing in the faith. Paul exhorted
Timothy, saying, "Until I come, devote yourself to the
public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to
teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13). When Scripture is
illuminated before our eyes, we can raise the Word
high with full confidence, as one would do with a
banner ready for battle. Despite our experiences, the
devil does not draw back in retreat until he hears a
child of God who is living a holy life challenge his
authority with the following words: "It is written...."

Praye r

God uses prayer to sanctify us. It is dialogue that we

have with God, an encounter with our holy God that
cleanses us. As we pray, our spirits open to the work
of the Holy Spirit who brings God's voice to us.
Through prayer the precious blood of the Lamb
washes over us once more with its cleansing power.

Precious, anointed prayers can be found in the

Bible. Through them, we can learn a lot about prayer
and about the heart of the worshiper. Especially in the
Psalms, we discover facets of David's heart that
touched the heart of God and led Him to say, "I have
found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have
anointed him" (Psalm 89:20). David prayed:

Test me, 0 Lord, and try me, examine my

heart and my mind.

-Psalm 26:2

Search me, 0 God, and know my heart; test

me and know my anxious thoughts. See if
there is any offensive way in me, and lead me
in the way everlasting.

-Psalm 139:23-24

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my

hidden faults.

-Psalm 19:12

Prayer is not a monologue but a majestic dialogue.

In fellowship with the Spirit, our ears open to hear
God's soft voice. But one has to learn to hear the
voice of God. He will never force His voice upon us.
The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and speaks to our
hearts with a gentle voice, exhorting us to do God's
will, bringing to light our hidden selves.

Since our hearts are deceitful, God examines us in

the light of His presence (see Jeremiah 17:9-10). As
His light illuminates our hearts, He convicts us of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8). The
Old Testament example of the disease of leprosy
helps us to understand the way God deals with our
sin today. Moses' law stipulated that when someone
suspected he had contracted leprosy, he had to go to
the high priest in order to verify the fact. His own
opinion did not matter, nor did that of society,
friends, or relatives. One person only had authority to
judge in such a case, and there was only one
authoritative voice-that of the high priest. The same
is true of our hearts-only God who is holy can judge
the sin in our lives. We must present ourselves before
God and say, "Examine me. Search me with Your
lamp."

We must present ourselves before God and say,

"Examine me, search me with Your lamp."

If you invite a well-mannered person into your

home and say to him, "Sit in this armchair," he will sit
there and wait. He is not likely to get up and
rummage in the rooms of the house or open the
refrigerator; he will probably wait until you sit down
to visit with him. The more attention you give to your
visitor, the greater the opportunity you will have for
conversation that enables you to get to know him. If
you were to ignore him, he might ask, "Why did you
invite me to your home?" It is the same with the Holy
Spirit. We must seek God's presence in order to ask
Him for wisdom and light for our paths. Once in His
presence, we must give Him all the attention He
deserves. The Holy Spirit longs for an intimate
relationship with us.

We can freely enter into the Most Holy Place.

Whether or not we do so depends on us. When a son
of God cries out to Him in prayer, the Father never
tells His angels to answer by saying, "Tell him I'm not
in." He always "answers the phone;" we will never
get a busy signal. God says to us, "Return to me, and
I will return to you" (Malachi 3:7).

God wants to talk to us about great and hidden

things. He wants to talk to us not only about the
marvelous plans He has for our lives but also about
the condition of our hearts and about the fruit He
would like to see in our lives. When we enter His
sanctuary, the light of His presence illuminates our
circumstances (Psalm 73:17).

Job defended his integrity before God until he had

an encounter with Him. Then he exclaimed:
 I know that you can do all things; no plan of
yours can be thwarted.... Surely I spoke of
things I did not understand, things too
wonderful for me to know. You said, "Listen
now, and I will speak; I will question you, and
you shall answer me." My ears had heard of
you but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust
and ashes.

Job 42:2-6

The prophet Habakkuk complained strongly in the

presence of God. But when the Lord spoke to him,
he realized his unworthiness and responded with a
beautiful song of victory.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are
no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop
fails and the fields produce no food, though
there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in
the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will
be joyful in God my Savior.

-Habakkuk 3:17-18

It is imperative that we walk in the Spirit,

submerged in the river of God. When we dive into
the water, to a certain extent we lose the capacity to
see and hear. Under the river of the Holy Spirit we
stop hearing what the world says, its trivial remarks,
its gossip. Nothing of that kind interests us then. We
are intent on our intimate fellowship with the Holy
Spirit. But as soon as we raise our heads above the
level of the spiritual river, we hear once again the
voice of the lying devil, the voice of discouragement.
That is why we are to pray, "Lord, plunge me into
Your river. Keep me there. I want to depend upon
You. I want to hear Your voice."

Under the river of the Holy Spirit we stop hearing

what the world says, its trivial remarks, its gossip.
Nothing of the kind interests us then.

At times the Lord will direct us to combine a time

of fasting with our praying. The disciples, along with
the early church, practiced prayer and fasting (Acts
13:3). Jesus instructed us to fast without an outward
show, making it a private act of worship to God
(Matthew 6:16-18). Jesus, our greatest model, fasted
(Matthew 4:2).

As God has periodically invited me to fast, I have

discovered that there is great power in fasting. In the
Bible, fasting can be seen as an act of worship by
humble people who prostrate themselves before the
Lord in recognition of their need for spiritual food
from God above the need for human food. When the
devil tempted Jesus in the desert, He rebuked the
devil by saying, "It is written: `Man does not live on
bread alone, but on every word that comes from the
mouth of God"' (Matthew 4:4).

Fasting is not something magical. It is not a

practice undertaken to force God to fulfill our
wishes. Those who fast should not boast of being
more spiritual than those who do not fast. On the
contrary, the function of fasting is to humble our
flesh, to discipline us so that we will seek God, and
to help us step back into the heavenly riverbed. The
best motivations for fasting are simply to seek God's
face and to renew our fellowship with Him.

Before the Lord poured out a fresh and powerful

anointing upon me in 1992, I was driven to spend
entire weeks at a time fasting. I felt such hunger for
God! I longed to experience a new relationship with
Him, and I strived to reach it. Today I recognize the
value of those moments, and I know they had a lot to
do with my present spiritual vitality.
 Let us thank God for the instruments of prayer and
fasting that transform and cleanse us and give us
direction according to His will.

FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CHURCH is an

important factor in connection with our cleansing. As
we walk with God it is impossible to grow in a
healthy manner if we remain isolated from the
fellowship of the body. We need our brothers and
sisters. They have a fountain of living water within
that aids us in our cleansing.

Fasting is not something magical. It is not a practice

undertaken to force God to fulfill our wishes. The
function of fasting is to humble our flesh, to
discipline us so that we will seek God.

The Gospel of John tells us of a moment in the life

of Jesus when He shared an intimate moment of
fellowship with His disciples. This moment, just
before His crucifixion, emphasizes His closeness to
His disciples and gives us a principle of fellowship.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things

under his power, and that he had come from
 God and was returning to God; so he got up
from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and
wrapped a towel around his waist. After that,
he poured water into a basin and began to
wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the
towel that was wrapped around him.

John 13:3-5

The act of washing His disciples' feet has a greater

implication for the believer than the simple fact of
serving one another. It is intimately related to our life
of holiness. In our daily walks as Christians, very
often our feet get soiled with sin. Our confessions
alone before God are more than enough for us to
experience His forgiveness and accept victory over
all evil. But there are moments when we urgently
need the affirmation of forgiveness from a brother, a
servant of God, who can kneel down and wash our
feet. The Lord said to His disciples, "I have set you
an example that you should do as I have done for
you" (John 13:15).

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, "Two are better than

one.... If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls and has no one to help
him up!" Great men of God have thundered to a fall
because they found themselves alone and did not ask
for help at the right moment. Satan seeks to isolate a
believer by his circumstances so that he can wage a
battle against that person alone. In those times of
isolation, sin attempts to take possession and
dominate the individual, and temptation places him at
the edge of an abyss. Sometimes prayer and Bible
reading seem insufficient to overcome temptation. If
we will ask God for the way out at those moments,
He will point us to the church, to the family He has
given to us. We should never attempt to handle such
situations alone. It may be humbling to admit our
failures to anotherno one likes to expose his "dirty
feet" to another-but it is necessary to do so!

On this road to holiness, God works by using

believers to back us up with prayer, to discipline us
when we need it, or to listen to us in loving silence.
When God inquired about Abel, Cain was not correct
when he answered, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
(Genesis 4:9). Of course we are! The sin and
problems in the life of a brother or sister affects us
too. We are one body in Christ. In our fellowship
with one another, God sanctifies us. As 1 John 1:7
says, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood
of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin."
 THE LORD'S TABLE

LET US LEAVE THE COURTYARD with the bronze

altar and the basin for washing and enter the Holy
Place, the first room of the tabernacle, where only
the priests were allowed. Each piece of furniture in
this room has something to teach us about our
ministry as a church. The table with the bread of the
Presence speaks to us of our ministry inward, that is,
to the fellowship of the church. The lampstand, the
second element in the Holy Place, relates to our
ministry outward to the lost world. The altar of
incense emphasizes our ministry upward to God
Himself.

The table was made of acacia wood and overlaid

with gold. Twelve loaves of bread were placed on it-
one for each tribe of Israel-thus expressing diversity
in perfect unity. All the people were represented on
the table by means of one offering to God. Every
time we meet for the Lord's supper, we celebrate this
truth. When Paul taught the Corinthians about the
importance of celebrating the Lord's supper, he
stated, "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many,
are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (1
Corinthians 10:17).
 As one body, it is both necessary and biblical that
we learn from one another. The Lord uses other
believers as examples for our own lives. If we want
to grow spiritually, we must surround ourselves with
anointed men, Christian leaders, and fellow believers
who love God, know Him intimately, and are faithful
to Him. As we draw near to them we will see how
they live, how they pray, and how they act.

Paul the Apostle said, "Follow my example, as I

follow the example of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Who could question the positive influence Moses
exercised on Joshua, of Elijah on Elisha, and of Paul
on Timothy? We grow as we learn from one another,
according to what each one has received from God
(1 Peter 4:10).

Elisha is a good example for us. His perseverance

as he followed Elijah, his renouncement of everything
else in order to be faithful to his calling, and his inner
longing for the fullness of the Spirit made it possible
for him to be given a remarkable ministry. God wants
to give us more of His power, but we shall never be
given His power if we withdraw from the body or
associate with the gossipmonger, the critic, or the
unruly. We are to associate with people whose words
are "a fountain of life" (Proverbs 10:11). They will
help us to grow. They will inspire us so that we learn
to love and serve God in greater measure.

The table and the bread of the Presence also

symbolize God's provision for His people. There was
a loaf of bread for each tribe. God had a chosen part
for each one. The provision is not only material, for
the bread was symbolic of Christ Himself. "I am the
bread of life. He who comes to me will never go
hungry, and he who believes in me will never be
thirsty" (John 6:35). There is no other kind of food
that will satisfy the soul. Jesus Christ is our all, our
true bread. The more we partake of Him through the
Spirit, the greater our hunger becomes for an even
greater portion of the living bread!

Let us never stop eating this bread. If we cease to

eat from the Spirit we will become weak, fall into a
routine, and live a miserable and tasteless form of
Christianity.

Are you partaking of this bread? The most delicious

nourishment on this earth is to be found in the prayer
room. The Lord is waiting for you. "Here I am! I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with
him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).
 If you have removed yourself from the table where
you are sustained by the living bread, you may be
living like the prodigal son. The tasteless garbage of
the world will never satisfy your soul. You must say
to yourself, "How many of my father's hired men
have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!"
(Luke 15:17).

A Syrophoenician woman showed great faith when

she countered the Lord's comments to her by
insisting that a few crumbs falling off the table were
enough to liberate her daughter (see Mark 7:28). How
much more will we, as sons of God, receive the
sustenance to accomplish great feats for God by
sitting at the King's table! Enjoy His delicious dishes!

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND was the only light in

the tabernacle. The priests kept a vigil so that the
lamp would never go out. In Revelation 1:20 the Lord
Jesus Christ reveals that "the seven lampstands are
the seven churches." The church is the light of the
world (Matthew 5:16). Our ministry outward is
fundamentally necessary in order to increase the
power of God in our lives.
 As we fulfill the ministry God has entrusted to us,
giving of what we have received, God's anointing
increases in our lives. The widow's oil did not cease
to flow until there were no more jars to pour it into
(2 Kings 4:6). If we stop giving our oil away, it will
stop flowing.

You may think, I'm no good. I have no g is. I'm not

ready for ministry. Don't belittle what God has given
to you. The church is weakened when believers bury
their gifts because they think they have nothing to
give.

As we accomplish the ministry God has entrusted to

us, giving of what we have received, God's anointing
increases in our lives.

It is time for all Christians, not just pastors, to

become agents of God's work. Stephen was a
deacon of the early church. His job was to wait on
the tables. But Stephen did not limit his ministry to
material things; he cultivated his spiritual life. He was
devoted to doing God's will even to the point of
surrendering his life. He was neither a mediocre
person nor a conformist. The result was astonishing.
God used him powerfully. "Stephen, a man full of
God's grace and power, did great wonders and
miraculous signs among the people" (Acts 6:8). As he
faced the religious leaders, his authority regarding the
Word was such that "they could not stand up against
his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke" (Acts
6:10).

In order to shine in this world we need a vision like

Stephen's. Many places need to hear the life-giving
Word. A Christian worker is not born; he is made.
The Lord shapes us gradually as we submit to His
will. Just as Jesus called His twelve disciples ... men
who, from a human perspective, had no great worth
to merit being chosen ... so the Lord has called us in
faith to do great things and is preparing us to perform
them.

Our source for ministry must be the Holy Spirit.

We need power to face the world with the authority
with which Jesus faced it. People are fed up with
lifeless words. We cannot touch the world if God
does not first touch us.

At one stage my priority was work. I used to rise

early and run around busily all day. The more I did,
the more I became satisfied with my efforts. But God
spoke to me through a pastoral interview I had with a
member of my congregation. As I listened carefully
to the problems of the person who was being
interviewed, and as he wept in anguish, the Holy
Spirit came over me with power. This experience
was so strong that I was forced to hold onto my
chair. Then He spoke to me, "Claudio, what are you
doing here?"

"Lord," I answered, "I'm doing Your work."

The Holy Spirit said to me softly, "I am waiting for

you in your prayer room." I believed that it was
imperative to do my pastoral duty and listen to the
flock, but God was reordering my priorities. God did
not want me to be devoted to a pastoral routine, even
though the routine was full of good intentions. The
most important thing for any believer is to be in
touch with God. Only then can we be effective in our
ministry. We are to be in touch with God first,
because He is our Source of power.

In order to serve Him, we need His spiritual

investiture, His covering. One day as I drove my car
through one of the main streets in the city of Buenos
Aires, the traffic was congested with people going
home from work. For an ordinary pedestrian, it
would have been very risky to cross the street under
those circumstances. But a man stood in the middle
of the avenue, and all the vehicles stopped suddenly.
Do you know why? He was dressed in a policeman's
uniform. He was an ordinary man, but he had
something that made him different-he was invested
with authority. Without his uniform he would have
been run over mercilessly, but his presence
commanded respect. The Spirit's anointing is the
spiritual investiture of the believer. When the Lord
anoints us, He gives us spiritual authority that
everyone recognizes. Though the devil himself comes
against us, when he sees the investiture of God upon
our lives he will stop, saying, "I can do nothing with
him. The Lord Jesus backs him up." God's hand will
be with us. His arm will strengthen us and crush our
enemies (Psalm 89:20-23).

The oil of anointing causes us to shine in a world of

darkness.

The oil of anointing causes us to shine in a world of

darkness. We are God's lampstand, the light of the
world. If we want to proceed toward a glorious
dimension we must act as servants of God. God's
purpose is that we should conquer the nations for
Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit. If we keep
our anointing within the church, enjoying ourselves
and dancing behind closed doors while the world
outside is lost, the Lord will take it away from us and
give it to those who will channel it out into the world.
Preach the Good News to the needy world, and God
will add more glory to your life! Ask God for power.
The Lord says, "Ask of me, and I will make the
nations your inheritance" (Psalm 2:8).

THE INCENSE: THE SAINT'S PRAYERS

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE was the last sacred

object in the Holy Place. It was placed before the
thick curtain that separated the Holy Place from the
Most Holy Place. The fragrance of the incense
penetrated through the curtain to the glorious
presence of God on the ark of the covenant. The
symbolism of the altar of incense is expanded in the
Book of Revelation, where John stated, "The four
living creatures and the twentyfour elders fell down
before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were
holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the
prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8).

The incense represents our prayers that go up to

the presence of God. "May my prayer be set before
you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be
like the evening sacrifice" (Psalm 141:2). In addition
to our prayers, our praise, and our worship, our gifts
are also set before God (see Acts 10:31).

The altar of incense links us to the first ministry of

the church: praise, worship, and fellowship with God
in prayer. This is our "upward" ministry. The letter to
the Ephesians indicates that we were chosen "to the
praise of his glorious grace" (1:6). Fellowship with
those who are about us, as well as our witness to the
world, depend on this priestly ministry. The early
church moved in an atmosphere of deep prayer and
worship. As the disciples ministered to the Lord, they
were given the necessary guidance to carry out His
work (Acts 13:2-3). On our way to a victorious
Christian life, the altar of incense puts us in contact
with glory.

On our way to a victorious Christian life, the altar of

incense (praise, worship, and fellowship with God in
prayer) puts us in contact with glory.

The prayer of faith which marked the beginning of

our Christian lives when we accepted the gospel
continues to be the most marvelous means of access
to the knowledge of God's glory (Romans 10:9-10).

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

THE MOST HoLY PLACE is the place where a
personal encounter between God and His children
occurs.

The ark of the covenant was the only piece of

furniture in the Most Holy Place. Among other
things, it contained a jar of manna, Aaron's staff that
had budded, and the tablets of the covenant
(Hebrews 9:4). Over the atonement cover (or mercy
seat), blood was sprinkled to cover the people's sins,
and over the blood God's glory manifested itself.

The curtain which was torn into two parts when

Christ died invites us to enter freely into the heavenly
places through prayer. No one is allowed to enter the
Most Holy Place except on the merits of Christ, our
high priest whose presence was symbolized by the
ark of the covenant. Our lives have a transcendent
quality because the Lord Jesus Christ has sprinkled
us with His blood and revealed in our clay vessels the
glittering treasure of His presence.

When we go into the Most Holy Place, into this

fellowship with a holy God, we marvel as we
discover that Jesus Christ pleads perpetually on our
behalf, showing His Father the marks on His hands
that were pierced on the cross. Before His glory we
are strengthened with the manna from heaven which
He offers us. In the Most Holy Place we discover the
authority that is represented by Aaron's staff. Jesus
pours into us His own life. He is the power of the
resurrection that gives us victory over death and
Satan. At the feet of our Master, in His heavenly
abode, we learn His statutes and receive power to live
the Word that is written on the tablets of our hearts.

Making fellowship with the Holy Spirit a practice is

a decision that we must take very seriously. As Hosea
6:3 advises, "Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us
press on to acknowledge him."
 10

A Passion for God

YE A R S A G o, although the worship services in

our church were touching the hearts of our
congregation, I thought, I'm thirsty and unsatisfied. I
would go home after the services, kneel down, and
pray, "Lord, I want more and more. I'm unsatisfied. I
know there are rivers and springs.... Lord, I want to
know You!" God had put a thirst in me, and when I
sought passionately for the Lord to fill me, I found
what I needed.

One day my eyes were opened, and I understood

that a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit was
deeper than merely addressing words to God. I was
radically transformed. I began a new phase in my life
and ministry. The Holy Spirit filled me, and I
recovered my first love, a place beyond religious
routine or stereotypical services, where everything
was fresh and renewed. It was such a vivid
experience that I did not sleep for many nights in
order to have fellowship with God. Even today, His
presence enthralls me so much that I keep watch on
my eyes and my heart so that I will not find myself
again out of His presence.

The apostle Paul experienced wonderful things with

the Lord. His marvelous conversion on the way to
Damascus placed him face-to-face with the risen
Christ. His ministry witnessed the supernatural
through revelations in the Word (2 Corinthians 12:1),
and signs and wonders accompanied his preaching
(12:12). The passion produced in him consumed him
to the point that he was willing to give up everything.
His deepest longing was set on the very person of his
King. He earnestly longed to know Him:

But whatever was to my profit I now

consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is
more, I consider everything a loss compared
to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ
 Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all
things. I consider them rubbish, that I may
gain Christ.

-Philippians 3:7-8

Many people in this world give up everything for an

ideal even though they do not know God. They make
sacrifices to reach a goal that represents the passion
of their lives. An athlete who is preparing for a
competition lives a severe and exacting life. He gets
up early every day in order to practice. He follows a
strict diet. He does not hesitate to exert himself or to
deny himself all luxuries. His heart is governed by his
passion.

That same passion should characterize Christians as

they seek God's face. We should burn with the same
fire that burned in Paul, Jeremiah, and Moses, men
who were not satisfied with their spiritual lives. They
wanted more! They hungered for God. They were
mature believers who passionately wanted to know
Him even more intimately.

What is the difference between a mature Christian

and one who is not? The immature Christian seeks
only the Lord's hands (His benefits and His works).
The spiritual Christian has his eyes set on the Lord's
face, on His very being. An immature Christian wants
only the benefits-the power. A spiritual Christian
seeks to know the God of power-His character and
His will. Many Christians splash their feet in two
inches of water when they could plunge down into
the depths of God.

The people of Israel were immature in their

relationship to God. In their pilgrimage through the
desert, they did not seek God in order to love and
obey Him. They were only interested in the benefits
He could give them. Psalm 81:11 says, "But my
people would not listen to me; Israel would not
submit to me." God lamented, "If my people would
but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways,
how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn
my hand against their foes!" (Psalm 81:13-14).

The Lord wants to have fellowship with us. He

longs to have our love, our attention. We cannot be
negligent in such matters. Jesus taught us, "But when
you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray
to your Father, who is unseen" (Matthew 6:6).

Our dialogue with God requires a special time.

Think about your daily relationships. How do you
communicate with your neighbor? We often invite
someone to our home or to sit together with a cup of
coffee and talk about our activities. It is the same
with God. We need to find time to spend only with
Him. Do not be surprised if the Holy Spirit says to
you quietly, "Today you left without praying!" Don't
forget the main guest in your life. God will give you
spiritual power when you deny yourself and submit
your flesh in order to seek Him. To this effect, you
must order your priorities. If you can do so, go to
bed early and get up early in time to pray. Devote the
first part of your day to the Lord. D. L. Moody, the
great preacher, said, "The Christian who kneels more,
stands better." This is true. If you begin your day on
your knees in fellowship with God, you will be in a
position of strength to face the day before you. You
will have spiritual life and be able to discern God's
will. Welcome His fellowship!

The Israelites met defeat because they set their eyes

on God's works rather than on God Himself. But
Moses provides a wonderful example of a spiritual
search. Although he also enjoyed the wonders God
made in the desert-the manna, the water out of the
rock, the cloud, and the column of fire-he longed to
know God intimately. The people shouted, "We want
food! We want water!"
 But Moses prayed, "Show me Your glory. I want to
know You. I hunger and thirst for Your
righteousness." God revealed Himself to Moses. "He
made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the
people of Israel" (Psalm 103:7). Why was Moses
given this knowledge and not the people? For a very
simple reason: Moses asked for it. "If you are pleased
with me, teach me your ways so I may know you"
(Exodus 33:13). God always responds to the sincere
clamor of His children.

King David was also a man of prayer, a tremendous

worshiper. Instead of disheartening him, adverse
circumstances provoked intense spiritual thirst within
him. His search touched his innermost being and led
him to seek an absolute priority of meeting with God:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my

soul pants for you, 0 God. My soul thirsts for
God, for the living God. When can I go and
meet with God?

-Psalm 42:1-2

David faced many times of adversity. His own son

Absalom rose up against his throne, and many others
joined him in his act of treason (see Psalm 3). Yet
David enjoyed the peace and confidence that comes
only from above:

I he down and sleep; I wake again, because

the Lord sustains me. I will not fear the tens
of thousands drawn up against me on every
side.

-Psalm 3:5-6

In the fourth verse of Psalm 3 we find the key to

move from lamentation to victory. "To the Lord I cry
aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill." When
David knelt down, cried out, and had fellowship with
God, the Lord answered from His holy hill. The real
impact of a human being in the world does not
depend on his appearance or his human abilities.
None of this will be of any use to him if he is empty
within. Real strength is received by "those who hope
in the Lord" (Isaiah 40:31), those who feel the glory
of God and have the fragrance of Christ in their
hearts.

You need this experience. Throughout this book I

have tried to emphasize one truth: God wants you to
seek Him. He wants you to hunger for the Holy
Spirit. Only then will you discover the glory of God
in your life and the hidden treasures He has reserved
for those who love Him. Seek God, and you will
know victory. The Lord longs to make Himself
known, but He reveals Himself by spiritual means
only, not by natural means. We can get to know the
Lord's true character only by seeking Him "in spirit
and truth" (John 4:23). As we seek Him, we will
experience the joy of knowing Him.

This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise

man boast of his wisdom or the strong man
boast of his strength or the rich man boast of
his riches, but let him who boasts boast about
this: that he understands and knows me, that I
am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice
and righteousness on earth, for in these I
delight," declares the Lord.

-Jeremiah 9:23-24

In God's presence we learn that He is light (1 John

1:5). And in His light we walk as children of light
(Ephesians 5:8). We see His holiness and desire to
emulate Him (1 Peter 1:16).

Witnessing signs and wonders is not enough to

change us, nor will taking part in a wonderful
worship service change us. The key is within us:
"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him"
(John 7:38, italics added). Only an attitude of
brokenness as we search for God will make these
rivers of life flow in and out of our lives.

You may think you have no great qualities or

charisma that the Lord could use, but He has a
purpose for your life. He watches your heart. God is
interested in your life. Today the Holy Spirit invites
you to make one of the most important decisions of
your life, a decision that will make it possible for you
to enjoy a glorious future. This decision is a
commitment, a covenant of love with the Lord to lift
up your eyes daily and seek Him. The Holy Spirit
wants to quench your inner thirst and take you to a
glorious dimension where you can speak with God as
Moses did-face-toface. He desires to hear you say
passionately, sincerely, and from the depths of a
loving heart, "Holy Spirit, I hunger for You!"