SOP: SIGNS AND GIFTS
(Spiritual
Perception Series—1980)
Lesson
XXVII
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In this lesson we
will discuss the various signs that people experience, because they are closely
related to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When we speak about the gifts and the moving of God within the services
we must include the unusual spiritual phenomena of signs that have been taking
place within the recent years. I doubt whether these signs hardly ever appeared
at any other time in the history of the Church. Although I am not an authority
on all the early Church records, in reading many of them I have not found one
reference to these signs being manifested in the early Church. This in no way
suggests that the signs we are receiving are false. It rather suggests that
this is a dispensational moving of the Spirit reserved for the end-time remnant
that God is raising up, that company to whom God purposes to give a great deal
more wisdom and guidance in the realm of spirit than we have ever known. After
interviewing, for example, a pastor who is hungry for God and does not know his
right hand from his left when it comes to things of the Spirit, we begin to
appreciate the significance of the signs and the leadings of the Lord.
Confused, without the guidance of knowing what to do, at bests he hopes for a
good anointed hunch once in a while to help him with the services and whatever
he is doing. He does not have the signs, nor does he know the leading of the
Lord.
Although this is a
very unique manifestation that God is bringing to us, we find that it is
embraced in the Scriptures. Again we will refer to the passage in I Corinthians
12:4-12 to see what God is trying to do now.
Now there are
varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries,
but the same Lord. And there are varieties of ‘effects’, but the same God who
works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of
the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through
the Spirit; and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
to another faith by the same Spirit;; and another gifts of healings by the one
Spirit; and to another the affecting of miracles, and to another prophecy; and
to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues;
and to another, the interpretation of tongues. But the one and the same Spirit
works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as He
wills. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the
members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
Note in the above
passage the varieties of gifts and of ministries, the varieties of effects or
operations. Anyone who insists that God can only move in a specific traditional
channel is not observant of the Scriptures, for the Bible reveals that God was
constantly doing things that had not been done before.
The New Testament is
distinguished primarily from the Old Testament in the step-up in the spirit
realm. In the Old Testament they were throwing rocks at giants, or something of
that nature, on a physical level. In the New Testament Jesus and the disciples
healed the sick and cast out devils. A few isolated miracles were recorded here
and there in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament they reached into a
whole new realm as demons were shrieking out in recognition of Christ. We are
now facing the great
In the New Testament
times, there were people like Anna and Simeon who were in the temple waiting on
God continually. They prophesied the moment they saw the babe Christ, for their
hearts were prepared. Think of the hundreds of people milling around who did
not even recognize that child. Millions of people today do not recognize that
God is moving now. There must be the Simeon and the Anna in this day
also—people who will be alert, whose eyes will be open to see what God is doing
in the earth. Then when something happens they will be able to identify it
immediately and relate it to the great revelation that God has given their own
hearts. And it is for this that the signs and gifts are being manifested.
God may have given
you hands that burn or various other signs upon your person and you say; “We
didn’t have this in the denominational churches.” But they had their signs too.
There were other times when God did some unique things. The early accounts of
the Methodist church tell how some people who scoffed and mocked at the preaching
shook so violently that they died of broken necks. The sign of the Spirit, the
judgments of God, fell upon those who scoffed. Every move of God’s Spirit has
brought some kind of unique sign or manifestation. For that reason we should
not be critical of the things that happened in the early days of the
Pentecostal outpourings. The false was present, but there was also the true:
people were literally slain under the power of God, unable to move, or in some
instances moving violently. What God is doing today seems sophisticated
compared to what has been seen in the awakenings and revivals of past
generations.
Today God is making
people alert and aware of a world they have no senses to perceive. How are we
going to know there are devils if we cannot see them with our eyes? We may be
able to smell them or feel their vibrations; there may be a sign, or a
revelation may come directly apart from any sign. We are not left ignorant of
the presence of the enemy. It is just that the enemy is not our focus. We do
not go around looking for demon activity, and as we move more and more into the
Spirit we will be less and less moved by this kind of activity. No longer are
we creatures walking about with the five senses, completely unaware of what is
taking place in the realm of spirit. The signs are important, though not as
infallible guides. But until we know what is going on in the spirit world, by
revelation or spiritual perception or insight, we can thank God for these signs
that are like seeing-eye dogs for the blind.
The signs can alert
you. You may say, “I don’t know what’s wrong, but I’m getting a sign of
confusion.” Your seeing eye dog has stopped and it is
time for you to be alert. By the Spirit these signs operate like a seeing-eye
dog: revealing dangers of the traffic, receiving signals and hearing sounds
that you cannot hear. The Spirit within you is alert to that realm. Thank God
for the signs. If they do nothing more than make you alert to the fact that
something is going on, they are very valuable.
In the signs that
are coming now, I am aware there are three basic types: symptomatic,
sympathetic, and symbolic that can move in symbiotic, synergistic and
synchronistic patterns. In the midst of spiritual conflict, or in ministering
to someone, the signs that come seem to be in those categories. Let us analyze
the signs, and then in a very practical application see how they could be used
in a New Testament church service where the gifts are in operation.
Signs are
symptomatic when we feel the direct symptom. For example, in warfare when you
are being hit you may feel pain in your neck that is a symptom. It is not
symbolic, and in this case it is not a sympathetic sign that you are getting
for someone else. In most times of assault or warfare it is the real thing. If
someone hits you in the nose, it may have a certain symbolic quality, and even
a certain sympathetic quality, but your bleeding nose is a symptom of direct
assault; the pain is your pain, not anyone else’s. Likewise, when you are being
hit by the devil or by some psychic assault coming from a devil-possessed
person, what you feel is not a sympathetic sign for someone else, nor is it
symbolic; it is a direct symptom of your own assault. You can be in battle and
have nosebleeds, indicative of a direct assault against you. If you are under assault and have heart
pains, those are not just symbolic heart pains they are very real.
When you have
sympathetic signs, they are almost the same set of signs. Then when you stand
beside someone and feed the heart pains, you know they are not yours.
Sympathetically you are feeling the pains of the individual who is being hit
directly in his heart. When you pray for a person who is under a direct assault
of the devil, you are in tune with him immediately, and sympathetically you
feel the pressures and the battles he feels. You must be able to distinguish
between your direct symptoms and sympathetic sign you feel for another person.
Suppose you stand in a line for prayer. Specific things may be happening to you
because of your personal problem, but as you stand near another person,
suddenly you may feel confused. That means you are tuned into that other
person, and sympathetically you feel his oppression of confusion.
The third sign is
the symbolic sign. You can have almost the same sign symbolically. For example,
if heart pains are a symptom of direct attack upon you, you will have a certain
pain. If it is a sympathetic pain, indicating that you are to have a burden for
someone else, it is a certain pain. But if it is a symbolic sign, it does not
refer to the physical organ at all, but to something of the heart, and you may
feel another sign completely that makes it a symbolic sign for you. I am sure
you will agree that we all have much to learn about signs. Can you tell the
difference between a symptomatic and symbolic sign? Most of us find that as God
gives grace it is amazing how we feel our way along and come into an
understanding of this.
There is such
closeness in the signs that come. First you should analyze the signs in your
own experience. What is your ministry? What is God doing through you in the
Body? Which gifts are you to move in? When you relate all of this directly to
the signs, you have at least a suggestion to the key that will help you. Let me
give you an illustration to clarify it. Suppose you are in a prophecy service.
Everyone is worshiping and rejoicing; one prophecy after another is coming. You
want to prophesy, but you do not know what to prophesy about. What is the
message; what is the word that is coming? You should follow two or three
suggestions. First, be very careful to note the specific trend of the current
dealings of God upon the church and have those clearly in your mind. If it is
judgment, in all likelihood God will be speaking of some aspect of that.
Secondly, notice the specific trend of God’s dealing within that specific
service. God may be exhorting that the people worship and praise God for the
coming judgments. Keep that in mind. Then you will want to tune in to what you
are going to prophesy. You can always give a “me too” prophecy. When you hear a
prophecy that registers with you, prophesy the same thing. But suppose you are
getting a certain sign, which in this case would be a symbolic sign. You are
beginning to feel something. You are ready to prophesy judgment is coming, and
as the people are worshiping the Lord in the midst of judgment, suddenly you
get a strong sign in the forearm and your arm begins to ache. That does it! You
know what the prophecy is going to be about. The Lord is going to bring miracle
deliverance to His people through the judgments that are coming through the
movings of the Lord that will affect the whole earth. You have taken the
specific current of God’s flowing; you have heeded a sign. Then you turn you
heart toward it. The minute that you are directed toward it, you prophecy comes
forth in the exact presentation that should come. Why didn’t it come before? It
could have, but this particular day you were having a little problem, and as
you looked at all the doors, suddenly you sense this was the right door and you
opened it. When you opened the door, the flood of revelation that was to come
in that prophecy was right there, and you were able to move.
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This is very
important, because prophecy meetings should not be services with a dozen
different prophecies and with everyone prophesying in a different direction.
The effectiveness is in the flow of the entire current flowing along. Those of
you who are a little timid about prophesying should be alert. If you have a
sign, you know the general trend, and you are listening to what the prophecies
are aimed at in the service—then you can give your prophecy. It will help you
to grow; it will put you up in the company of those who are ministering. You
are no longer a spectator, but at that moment you are a participator in the
flow. The people in a congregation who receive the prophecies of others are
blessed, but it is more blessed to be among those who speak the word of the
Lord. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Keep alert to what God is
saying and doing; be alert to the signs.
If would be good for
us to discuss the various kinds of signs, what they mean, and what you should do
about them. However, you may have a sign that no one else has, and the Lord
will have to help you with that sign. God deals with each of us in a unique
way, and no doubt we may get some signs that no one else has. We may get a
combination of signs, and we have to understand by the nature of the sign what
God is trying to say and do.
The simplest
Scriptural explanation of the signs is found in Roman 8:11. The Spirit
that raised up Jesus from the dead is quickening our mortal bodies by His
Spirit that dwells in us. Something of the resurrection power of God is
operative in our bodies. We are living at the threshold of the manifestation of
the sons of god, the first resurrection, the glorification of the believer’s
body, and as we are being lifted into a new realm, things do not seem to have
an explicit end. The Church age will not be cut off at a precise point by the
Kingdom age. Some people made a big
mistake in the early days of this Walk, saying, “We’re in the Kingdom. Now
we’ll not have Communion or water baptism anymore—that’s past.” They dropped
everything and thereby created a vacuum. They had not advanced that far in to
the Kingdom
We might compare
this with an experience familiar to those who have lived in the Midwest. During
the summer it is the custom of farmer’s to store food in their cellars in
anticipation and preparation for the winter months. When spring comes the old
potatoes are sorted and the one’s that have started to sprout are then
replanted. The early new potatoes are enjoyable eating, but if there are only a
few at first the wise thing to do is not throw out the last season’s potatoes.
In the early spring if the vegetable garden did not produce enough for a
family’s needs, they would eat some of the canned goods remaining in the cellar
until the garden produced in greater abundance. It was a time of transition.
So many things that
God has done for us down through the years are valued and still relative to us.
As the transition takes place, some of them are being discarded and new ones
are coming. Think how long a time was involved in the transition between Old
Testament law and New Testament grace. After Christ was crucified, an entire
generation passed the people realized that the dispensation of grace was upon
them. It was an overlapping period, and we are in an overlapping period now.
God is releasing a
great amount of the awareness of the whole spirit age before us—beautiful
things. Meanwhile other things are still necessary, such as church order and
the New Testament church. We may have a form of the church all through the
Kingdom. This is not a time to abandon anything; it is a time to praise God for
what is coming in the signs and a new understanding of the Word. You may go
through periods in which you are blessed when you feed upon the Word as you
have done for many years. The next day it may suddenly read much differently.
You are in a transition period and the signs are give to help you. They can
bless you, for they are a token of the coming day of awareness in the spirit
world, when we will see and move and freely have our being in them. Right now
the gifts of the Spirit are give to help us through the Church age and into the
Kingdom.
The word tells us of
the day when the perfect will come. When the perfect comes, the partial will be
done away. We read this in I Corinthians 13:8-13. Love never fails; but
if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues,
they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in
part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be
done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child,
reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For
now we see in a mirror dimly, but then fact to face; now I know in part, but
then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully know. But now abides
faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
If we wanted to
apply this to the chronological times, we could say the age of love is coming.
There may be much hatred, and many things are only partial now, but the perfect
will come. We prophesy—and we prophesy in part. But the day will come when we
will not be looking to a sign—trying to open a door to find what is going on in
a service—looking to the Lord, getting a sure word, bringing it, then praising
God for the sure word. Now we are seeing in the glass darkly, but then fact to
face. We begin to understand it; then we know and see it clearly. We prophesy
in part; we know in part.
We praise God for
the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom, for we cannot over-emphasize how
great and wonderful they are, but neither can we say it is complete, perfect
wisdom and knowledge in it presentation to us, because we only know in part. But
there is a perfect day coming.
What is happening
now? With all the various types of signs that are coming in this outpouring of
the gifts, we are actually anticipating the day of perfection, the day of
perfect love. It is coming! Once in awhile we find that love manifest now in a
way that overwhelms us. But we realize that the age of love is not yet come.
Now that love is imperfect in its manifestation; therefore Paul concludes,
Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may
prophesy (especially that you
prophesy). I Corinthians 14:1. He is telling you to keep your eye on these
goals and keep working toward them, and God will help you, step by step.
Suppose you say, “I
want the perfect love; I don’t want the gifts.” You will not come to the
perfect love unless you use the gifts. You may say, “I want to go to the
church, but I’m tired of using a car.” There will be a day when you can be transported in the Spirit, but today I suggest
you use your car. It is a good means to take you there but it is not the
perfect means of transportation that will be yours when the day of Spirit is
fully set. Thus the gifts become a vehicle.
Saying, “I want only
love without gifts,” is like a little child saying, “I don’t want to be a child
anymore; I want to be a man.” Some sudden drastic event will not make him a
man. You feed, educate, train and bless the child; then after a while he
becomes a man. What happens to the childish things? They were only imperfect,
undeveloped manifestations of his character. They seem to be put away. Actually
they were swallowed up in the development that became a man. So it is with the
gifts of the Spirit. They are the childish, immature, preliminary
manifestations of that, which, one day will be so perfect. Paul says, “Now we
see and know in part, but then face to face, even as we are known.”
This is the beauty
of what God is bringing to us in these signs. Do not despise them;
nevertheless, do not build a big denomination or movement around them. They are temporary crutches to help us. When
in our spiritual perception we break through, we will use less and less of the
signs. Once revelation is established, the signs, that are; the beautiful
seeing-eye dog of the Spirit to nudge and warn you, to make you aware of that
which you have no awareness, will be done away with, because then you will be
able to see. As the sign comes fully and you can see and behold, you will not
need the seeing-eye dog. Where there is prophecy, it will be done away with.
Why? Because we will actually speak as the oracles of God; we will not need to
prophesy to people. ‘And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and
every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the
least to the greatest (Hebrews 8:11).’
That day is coming
and the preliminary steps of it should be embraced now. Do not hesitate and
say, “I do not know what’s going on.” Feel around a little: ‘I’d surely like to
know,” Be very curious. Be very hungry to know. Seek the Lord, “I’m afraid I’ll
make mistakes.” Undoubtedly you will. Would you rather remain in the darkness
and sit in a corner, or would you like to get up, take your cane, and feel
around to see if your can maneuver? While you are doing that, the light begins
to come more and more. Do not underestimate the signs, yet do not think you
have arrived when you begin having signs. You just have some of God’s blessed
helpers to help you.
This teaching
reveals the proper perspective toward the signs: we do not make too much of
them, but we are going to honor them, and we are going to have them. Many of
you have found that when you are going through difficult spiritual experiences
and a sign comes to you, you want to sit down and weep, for it is like an old
friend or a letter from home. You say, “Oh, thank you, Jesus.” You are so
thankful for this sign of God’s presence; it assures you that the Lord still
loves you.
A symbolic sign is a
symbol of something. A sign in your feet, for example, can mean many different
things; it can by symptomatic, indicating that your shoes are too tight; it can
be sympathetic, if the person next to you has sore feet or it may be symbolic.
Of all the signs, the symbolic sign is the classification of sign for which you
must look to the Scriptures to interpret what the sign means. A sign is readily
interpreted. A good concordance will usually help, and the Holy Spirit will
enlighten it.
Suppose you have the
symptom of sore feet. You may need arch supports; maybe you need healing. If,
it is a sympathetic sign, there is someone around you whose feet hurt and he
needs to be healed. If neither of these two categories is indicated, it is most
likely a symbolic sign and you must look to the Scriptures references to
interpret it. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread
shall be yours…go in to possess the land. Deuteronomy 11:24,31. God is
motivating you. In the sole of your foot you are receiving a sign that means,
“Come on, dear brother; walk through the land and claim it. Wherever you move
you possess; whatever you walk on and experience in only a minor way is going
to be yours; you will possess it.”
Suppose a sign comes
in the heel. You refer again to the Scriptures for the interpretation.
According to Genesis 3:15, Satan was to be the serpent that would bruise the
heel of the seed of the woman. That is interpreted in Romans 16:20, The
God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Satan shall bruise his heel. Satan came
against Christ and was bruised, but that is not the idea really conveyed. It
meant that He (Christ) would stomp on the serpent’s head so hard that it would
bruise His heel. The bruise was the effect of the outrageous stomping the devil
was going to receive. The bruise comes from the stomping—not from the serpent.
He is only incidental. He bruises your heel because you have stepped on him so
hard. It shall please God to bruise Satan under your feet shortly, and in this
symbolic sign you feel that bruising within your heel and you think, “Where is
he? Let me stomp on him. What is it in my life that God is bruising?”
Again, while that is
a symbolic sign, it may be sympathetic. You may be standing beside someone who
is telling how he is pressing in and believing God for something, and you get a
sign in your heel. You say, “Yes, I get a sign. The devil is going to be
bruised. Satan will be defeated just as you claim.” So we see there is an
overlapping of signs. The symbolic sign is beautiful to see.
Many of the signs
that come in the arms are of that nature also. Simply take certain Scriptures
that you can find in abundance and interpret them. “The arm of the Lord is made
bare” (Isaiah 52:10). That was a
challenge that came back in the early times when issues were settled between
leaders rather than the entire army fighting. A champion from each side was
chosen to fight. The story of David and Goliath is a classic example of this
practice. The Philistines chose Goliath as their champion and David represented
Israel, and when David won, the entire army of Israel was victorious. It saved
a lot of bloodshed, and no doubt that was the idea. If that policy was followed
today and the leaders had to do the fighting, we know there would be no more
wars. I remember a scene in the movie, “Patton”. General Patton was in North
Africa getting ready to meet Romel of the German army, head on. Patton was
standing on the desert—it was winter. He was there with his aide and as he
gazes out over the horizon in anticipation of going to war with Romel, he says
something like this: “Ah, the Genius, bastard Romel. If I had it my way we
would face off. We would meet, just he and I—his tank and mine and we would
pick a place. No other soldiers. We would get out of our tanks, shake hands
then get back into our tanks, and we would fight, bygamit---AHH! Yes, then that
would determine the whole outcome of the war. God, I hate the twentieth
century.” Patton was a great general. He
prayed often and wasn’t afraid to express certain ‘emphases.’ He was a true
warrior and visionary.
The
Lord has made His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations (He
throws His garment over and bares His arm); and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. Isaiah 52:10. To whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. Isaiah53:;1b-2a. This is speaking about
Christ. Whenever Christ is really exalted, an anointing in your arm is the sign
of the victory of Jesus Christ, for He is the arm of the Lord.
Because
Christ is the arm of the Lord, signs are revealed in various areas of the arm.
The upper shoulder represents His responsibility—His ruler-ship and His
government. Consequently, wherever the government of Christ over His Body or
over the local church is manifested, you may often get a sign in your shoulder.
This is according to the Word. The government shall be upon his shoulder
is the prophecy in Isaiah 9:6. When you get that sign in the shoulder, it
is speaking about authority, because government means authority.
When I get a sign in my shoulder as I pray for someone, then I know the
authority of Christ is coming to break down everything that stands in the way
of that individual walking with God and being submissive to the Lord’s will.
The sign in the shoulder indicates that the victory of the Lord Jesus
Christ over principalities and powers is in operation.
When
you get the sign in the upper arm, you will usually sense with it quite a bit
of the presence of devil power and spiritual warfare. The sign in the
upper arm indicates that spiritual struggles and conflicts in the
spirit realm are going to be resolved in Christ’s great victory over
principalities.
A
sign often comes in the forearm also, and again your arm
begins to ache with no physical reason for it. What dos that mean? This
sign refers more to deliverance than to the spiritual warfare of
the upper arm. It indicates that someone is going to be delivered from an
oppressive situation or circumstance, or someone is going to be healed—although
the healing sign generally flows down into the hand. Deliverance
(forearm), prevailing in warfare (upper arm), authority
(shoulder)—all of this is indicated within the arm because the
arm of the Lord is being revealed. Christ came to destroy the works of
the devil. He came to deliver His people. Many beautiful signs come in the arm,
and all of them are explained in the Scriptures and refer to Christ. He is the
arm of the Lord.
When
the sign comes in the heel, it symbolized Christ’s victory over Satan that God
will manifest through you. He is pleased to bruise Satan under your feet,
but it is Christ’s victory that is coming to pass in your life. In no case
should you feel that the signs are pointing to you, “Oh good, I have a sign in
my feet; now I’m going out and take a territory.” No, it means that by faith
you are going to enter into what Christ has already taken for you. The sign in
the heel does not mean you are going to bruise Satan for the first time. Christ
already accomplished that. The old serpent may still be wiggling, but Christ
has already bruised him. It will please God to say, “Come on now son, put your
foot on him too.” You are stomping on a defeated foe; Christ gave you the
victory. In each case you are entering into Christ’s victory, and the signs are
manifestations of Christ and His fullness that you are entering into. It is
very important that you understand this.
There
are many signs in the hand that can speak of so many things. The
intricate manifestations of Christ’s out reach are symbolized in the hand. He
ascended on high and He gave gifts to men (Ephesians 4:8), and the, hand that
reaches out can be represented by the ministries within the church. It can also
be representative of the foundational ministries: apostle—the thumb; prophet
–forefinger; evangelist—middle finger; pastor—ring finger; teacher—little finger.
Often if I am around an individual who is going to have such a ministry, one of
those fingers will suddenly come alive by the Spirit. Then I know he is part of
God’s hand to reach out. If an individual is not necessarily to be an
evangelist, but he does have a very persuasive ministry of exhortation, then
the sign will also be manifested in the evangelist finger. In that case it does
not necessarily mean that he is going to be an evangelist, but he will have a
ministry of strong exhortation similar to that of an evangelist. So it must be
interpreted a little differently when the sign comes differently. The sign is
present also if there is an oppression against a certain ministry. If someone
is set against me, I get a certain sign in my thumb, and I know he is not
against me as a individual, but he is antagonistic toward the apostolic
ministry. Usually I get a pain in my heart simultaneously with the sign in the
thumb.
If
your hands feel anointed—with a slight burning sensation and a pressure
radiating out from the palm that is a good sign. If you have the feeling
of wanting to dig the palm of your hand, that is an oppressive
sign. If you ever dipped your hand in turpentine, you noticed afterward
a kind of crawling sensation over your skin—that kind of feeling in
your hands is also oppressive.
As I said, these signs are not always the same in every case; I know of
a brother who has the sign of itching in his left palm just before he gets
blessed with finances, and an itching on his right hand just before a financial
setback occurs. These signs I am
describing are not written in stone or cut and dried in any way, God has a way
of manifesting Himself with each of us that is uniquely different. In most cases, an itching sensation over your
hand will be to indicate the spirit of witchcraft or of something dark
and occult.
If
someone is false; the signs shift to the left hand. Sometimes women have the
signs reversed; a woman might get a true sign in the left hand and the false
sign in her right hand. Most men get the true sign in the right
hand and the false sign in the left. If I
am around a false apostle, false prophet, false evangelist, or false
teacher I get the signs in the left hand. Another
distinction in the hand is that the right hand indicates spiritual things
and the left hand natural things. This would probably be
reversed for most women. Signs in both hands at once indicate a double
emphasis.
You
will have to study the signs, observe what is going on, and be alert to what is
taking place in the service. Then make your own notes as to what sign you are
getting compared to what is going on in the service. Keep studying and
analyzing it and soon you will see the distinct quality of the signs where you
personally are concerned. Encourage them. Do not be discouraged; work with it.
You are in a schooling that is priceless. Learn what the signs mean.
Whenever
the sign appears in the joint it means that some other related sign is in
execution. For instance, the sign may come in the shoulder joint. There have been
times when I actually wondered if there was something physically wrong with me
because the sign in the shoulder would be so intense. The sign
in the shoulder joint means that the authority over principalities and powers
is being executed. It is in motion.
I
can usually tell when the service is going to break through, approximately two
minutes before, because I feel the sign that is coming shift just a little. It
is in execution and it is taking place. Be alert—like having your hand on
a pulse, you can feel just what the Spirit is doing. Do we always
depend on the signs for the services? No. I depend upon them very little;
however, they are always good confirmation. I depend upon the revelation the
Spirit opens up. I do not use see a seeing-eye dog nearly as much now since my
perception has improved.
The
sign in the elbow again means something is in execution. This
time it is related to the forearm and has to do with your deliverance.
It is in action. I not only get the sign in the forearm, but it moves right up
into the elbow. This indicates it is not something that is going to
happen; it is happening to you in the now. That means it is being
accomplished at the very moment you are talking.
A
sign in the wrist should be studied carefully, because the wrist signs have
been very tricky. Usually it indicates that someone is being cut off.
The sign comes in the wrist, not in the joint, but
it feels as if the entire hand has been cut off at the joint.
That sign should be watched very carefully, for it is generally involved
with a spirit of withdrawal. If it is your own symptomatic sign, you
are cutting yourself off, or you are being cut off. If it comes
as a sympathetic sign, you will notice that it does not appear constantly. You
may come up to someone and shake hands with him, and if you feel as if your
hand had been cut off at the wrist, it indicates that he is fighting
withdrawal. He is the one who is being cut off, and you
should immediately set about to mend the relationship spiritually
between him and yourself and/or the rest of the Body. It can be deadly to be
cut off.
We
fight certain problems in this warfare that we should understand; rebellion or
lace of submission, withdrawal, and a generally bad spirit. The signs of
spiritual filthiness are more deadly now in this Walk in the Spirit than any
other type of sin. The bible says, Let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfection holiness in the fear of God.
II Corinthians 7:1. We want to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the
flesh, and some people think that is the primary objective. However, there is a
filthiness of spirit we must be alert to, and the signs help us more than
anything else. Withdrawal is very deadly. Rebellion or lack of submission is
very deadly. A bad spirit in general is very deadly in this Walk. You should be
alert to the things of your spirit as being more dangerous than anything else.
That is the door to watch; that is where the enemy will attempt to come in.
Other things will affect you too, but you are usually able to overcome them.
When something comes against the old flesh nature, such as a sickness or
oppressions, you can generally rise above it, but if it gets to your spirit and
you start withdrawing, you are very much in trouble. The sign of withdrawal
comes in the wrist through the cut-off feeling. So you deal with it.
If
you are being cut off from the flow of the Spirit, you usually experience
confusion with it. A crawling sensation on the back of the hand is a sign that the
door of reception is closed. If you could see the flow of spirit, you
would see that you receive from the back of the hand and you give
(impart) from the palm. That is why you put your hands up to God in the
characteristic pose of prayer. You raise your hands to bless the Lord and give
Him your praise and worship. If you want to impart a blessing to a person,
you lay the palm of your hand on the back of his.
A
sign of confusion, or being closed off to the Spirit, is a dangerous sign. If
Satan is coming to prevent the spiritual flow, you will feel as if you
want to scratch and dig your hand, especially the ridge of the
hand. That sign occurs with many, many people, indicating that
something is working against what God is trying to do. The sign along the
ridge of the hand means that Satan is trying to frustrate or set aside the
deliverance that god is working in your life. Be alert to it, because
the devil has tricked you or deceived you on some point and you are being
robbed of a victory that God has already given you. Watch carefully for
that sign along the ridge of the palm.
Whenever
a sign in the joint is sharp and severe, you know that God is bringing a
strong, decisive judgment against a spirit, or perhaps even against your
spirit. Suppose I get a sign that feels as if someone has cut off the
middle finger (evangelist) at the knuckle where it is joined to
the hand. This indicates a seducing spirit. The opposite
or counterpart of an evangelist is a seducer. The evangelist
comes to win people to Christ, whereas a spiritual seducer seduces them
from Christ, or from their integrity. The true and the false are always
present with you. If it is a satanic sign, you know it is a false
manifestation. From this you can reason it out for yourself. The same sign
applies to each ministry, depending upon the finger. God’s dealing with the
spirit of a false teacher would appear in a sign at the joint of the little
finger; that of a false prophet at the joint of the index finger; etc. Generally
the sign shifts completely to the other hand if it just involves
an individual. However, if God is cutting him off on a spiritual
level and judging him, you will still get the sign in the right
hand.
A
great deal can be revealed through the thumb. Since it is the apostolic sign,
it is also the sign of the basic government of the whole Church and Kingdom. It
is the sign of the Kingdom and of Christ the King, and of the kings and
priests, apostles and prophets. For the general company of people a sign in the
thumb does not mean they are apostles, but that they are coming into the
authority of kings and priest of the Lord. They will often notice the sign
through the entire thumb and first finger. Whatever ministry God has specified
for you will be revealed as you find there is something alive in that
particular part of your hand that has special significance just for you. When
you stand to worship the Lord, submissive to the King, you may get the
sign in the thumb, and sometimes it will come in both hands
simultaneously. Then you know it is not revealing true and false, but it
is indicating a double emphasis, because the anointing is enriched,
coming up to the Lord again.
If
the government of the church is involved, then the authority is represented in
the thumb and forefinger. And if authority is represented, it means judgment
must be there to decide what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what
is false. Under the anointing, the true and false in judgment, as well as the
true and the false in the apostolic ministry, is shown in my thumb. When I get
that sign I can tell whether something is right or wrong. Once in a while when
someone talks to me, I can check to see how much of it is the truth, how much
of it is a lie, and what kind of lie it is. Is the individual self-deceived?
Does he think he is telling the truth? The Holy Spirit will sometimes indicate
by a sign that there is deception: that he did a certain thing and thought and
felt a certain thing. By a very shallow judgment one might conclude, “The sign
reveals that he is lying.” No, it may be that deception is working on the
individual. He may have actually had the experience he described, said
everything he claimed to have said, done everything just as he said he did it,
felt it just as he said he felt it—yet the whole situation was a deception, and
a lying spirit was trying to bring to him a wrong spirit and a wrong attitude.
The even may have happened factually, just as he said, but the whole thing was
a lie in what was working in his life. Not always is the person’s integrity at
stake, but truth or deception, and that is important to know also.
When
signs appear in your stomach, you may think you need some kind of stomach
remedy. The area of the stomach and bowels can become very sensitive. We real
in I John, Who…sees his brother has need, and shuts up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwell the love of God in him? It seems that the
nerve centers in the stomach react to your emotions and your feelings.
That is why ulcers are not a result of what you eat as much as what is
eating you. Doctors will tell you that your reaction to tension,
pressure, and anxiety are more likely to cause ulcers than the food you
eat. A man may develop an ulcer when going through a very unhappy
situation in his life or when he is under much pressure in his business. As you
drink of the Holy Spirit, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water
(John 7: 38). Out of the very seat of your emotions and your reactions, the
Spirit of the Lord will flow in abundance. So that also becomes a basis of signs.
If
you get signs predominantly in certain areas, remember that God is not prudish,
as we are. He created the entire body and considers it good. Therefore He does
not have a puritanical attitude toward your body. In Mark 7: 18-21 Jesus said
it is not what goes into the body that defiles it, but what comes out of the
heart, for food that is eaten does not enter the heart, but goes into the belly
and is purged out through the bowels. He makes it very plain. Since the rectal
area deals with the elimination process of the body, a sign there would
indicate the elimination of spiritual poisons, especially in going through a
time when God is taking something out of your life. Signs come in the
reproductive organs, not as a sign of stimulus, but as evidence that God is
starting a creative work in your life. God is not overly concerned with our
bodies as we are, so do not try to relate a sign on human terms. Consider it
simply a sign of the Spirit speaking of something good that God is dealing and
bringing forth in your life.
The
two areas of my body that are most prolific in producing
signs are my hands (especially the thumbs) and the back of my
neck that operates like a sounding board.
When
interpreting signs in the hips we refer again to the Scriptures: in this case,
the account of Jacob wrestling with the angel. If you get the sign as though
your hip were out of place or out of joint, it means you have been
in a period of spiritual intercession or communion with the Lord; you
are facing a magnificent defeat and about to receive the blessing.
The Lord has won and you are coming into submission.
The sign of submission will appear in the hip. If you get this
sign in your hip, study it. Probably you have been submitting and
clinging to the Lord with aggressive faith. The sign of aggressive
faith appears there also. Remember Jacob said, “I will not let
You go except you bless me.”
I
have had signs comparable to what is known as the ‘stigmata’ in Christendom.
The Stigmata is the sign of the Lord’s crucifixion that manifests the real
pains and manifestation of Christ’s sufferings on the cross. Many saints and
people throughout history have experienced this manifestation. Although, I have
not had actual blood pouring out of my head, hands, feet and side—I have at
times, when God has put me through the work of the cross received the signs in
my head, side, hands and feet at the points where the crowns of thorns was
placed on the head, and the spear in the side, and the hands and feet. They
come together and are not painful, but are light pressure signs and anointing
indicating that God through the Holy Spirit is working the cross experience in
my life.
Signs
in the thighs and upper legs indicate the strength in battle, as
nearly as I have been able to interpret them. Whereas signs in the hips
show that you are prevailing with God or, more aptly, god is prevailing over
you, the thighs have to do with the strength to walk, to climb,
your progression in God. When you are coming up to a new plane,
fighting hard against the enemy, those signs will appear. During aggressive
periods when you are moving into the Lord, you may often feel a
hard sharp sign in your leg. Of all signs, it is the most painful.
What
about signs in the different areas of the head? In studying the lobes of the
brain in neuro-anatomy or psychology perhaps you would be taught that the
frontal lobes are more related to your feelings and emotions, which is probably
true. But in analyzing the signs and the symptoms, you would feel your
emotions and feeling in the back of the head. Because the nerve
centers are there, it seems that feelings of emotion, and pressures and
tensions, involving your relationships with all people, extend from the
back of the head almost to the shoulder line. Relationships to satanic
powers focus there also. The entire back of the head indicates
your relationship to people. The top or crown of the head is
related to God. Going down the back of the head there is first
the area of spiritual relationships, then natural relationships,
and finally the area indicating where Satan is trying to come against you
and how well he is succeeding.
If
the top of your head is sore or actually hurts, this means you
are coming into a good time for prayer and waiting on God; your
spirit is reaching out to the Lord. Someone touching the upper back of
your head may sometimes cause you to bristle. This
indicates that you are probably not getting along very well with the pastor or
the elders, or with your overseer or boss at work, depending whether it is
natural or spiritual. When a woman is not getting along with her
husband, the spiritual authority, it also shows up there. Sometimes children
show up where God should be, indicating that the parents almost idolize
their children, and then you are not able to make the contact to bless
the children through them. In some marriages the wife has accepted her husband
as absolute lord over her, which is not a healthy submission, for
he has superseded the place of God. If the relationship has
existed for a time, it is very difficult to help that individual, because the
husband is in the place where God should be. The wife will be overcome with
thought or feelings, because she has submitted to a strong psychic bond with
her husband. If the husband is not leading her in the Lord it can be disastrous
for her, unless this bond is broken.
If
you feel a light pressure around your head, like a band
encircling it—this is the sign of intercession. Your
spirit is in intercession for someone or some situation in the church. This will
also come as a confirmation when you are in great travail for someone or
a situation. Other times it just shows up and you may find certain
people coming to the forefront of your thinking. You might receive
picture-thoughts of that person (s) and or situation that needs intercessory
prayer.
In
the area of the back of the neck, the feeling and emotions are controlled.
Solomon speaks about his left hand being under the head of his beloved and his
right had embracing her (Song of Solomon 2:6). The lower portion of the
back of the head affects the emotions, affections, and desires of an individual.
When
Satan lies to us, he has to do it through our emotions. Have you noticed that
he gets you to feel a certain way and then he brings in a lie? He can never hit
you when you are spiritually on top. He must create a certain mood or a certain
emotion before you will believe his lie. A lying spirit always
hits you in the bone behind the ear. If you are under a pressure
of a lying spirit, it will hit you there and you will also
be suffering somewhere in your back where the nerve centers are
located. The lying spirit hits you at the main point of access to your
brain and nerve centers.
If
Satan is trying to get through, you will feel a pinching sensation on your shoulders,
sometimes very hard. That pinch on the shoulders may be felt when clairvoyants,
psychics, or mystics gain access to your mind, coming through that area. If you
want to reason with your children, do not hit them on the head, numbing them,
and then expect them to listen. Grip them just firm enough to get their
attention in the upper shoulder area, and shut off everything else that is
getting to them—spirits that are oppressing them, things that are coming
against them spiritually—and just believe God for them as you talk to them.
They will listen. This is an effective area.
In
studying these signs you will notice that the areas mentioned such as, the
reproductive areas—stomach (navel)—heart—neck—and head all relate to the
central nervous system we talked about earlier. You begin to understand how
these signs are connected to the central and autonomic nervous system. The
central nervous system is composed of the brain and spinal chord and functions
primarily in regard to our conscious activities—lifting a hand or foot—walking,
bending—speaking, etc. And the autonomic nervous system operates on an
unconscious level. It controls our breathing, digestion and elimination,
heartbeat, etc. So you can see how the two relate in regard to the signs.
On
the crown of the head is the openness toward God. That is why it has been
traditional, since the dawn of humanity, to lay hands on a person’s head.
Because of his openness to God, you can bless him. You can impart to him from
God a commission of authority, a ministry, a word that can govern and direct
his life, as you lay your hands on the top of his head.
The
focus of an individual’s own thought and mind comes in the forehead
(where his foremost thoughts are focused). If you bless someone
in that area you are bringing forth or increasing his own focus upon what he is
to do. After he has been given this focus in the Spirit he can then
very effectively bless others. The sign of understanding also comes across the
forehead. The sign of focus, or what I term the ‘single eye” of the Spirit
manifests there also. It comes mainly when listening to a teaching and in the
times of contemplation and meditation. It can also manifest when a prophecy
comes and it is confirming a focus. It comes as a light pressure between the brows
in the (so-called) ‘third eye’ area of the central forehead. Wherein, the sign of understanding comes
across the entire forehead. If you are being thwarted or clouded in your
understanding you will feel an unpleasant pressure over the area.
The
sign around the nasal passages, a sensation of your nose projecting and
feeling alive, reveals the discerning of spirits coming to you. Your spirit
is becoming alive to the presence of other spirits, and the Holy Spirit
would alert you to know what they are, or at least to recognize
their presence and to be warned against them. The sign in the
cheekbones is always a symbolic sign that you are under spirit attack.
A sign in the jaw hinge that comes frequently and does not
readily go away is an anointing of the Lord to assimilate the Word,
the prophecy, or the truth that God is giving you. Always take advantage of it,
for this will be a great time of assimilating what God is bringing into your
life. That is a good sign.
When
you listen very intently to some teaching or message, you will probably notice
a light pressure (which is not oppressive) on your temples. That
means you are being anointed by the Holy Spirit to absorb the teaching of
the Lord being presented to your mind, in your thinking,
in the whole of your life. When you are under satanic
assault, you may feel a jabbing sensation in your temples. Satan has not
been able to woo his way in, so he tries to ram through by pressure. That is the time to look to the Lord
and rise above it fast. Raise
your vibrations through an instant act of worship. Place your thumb on that
area and then focus your attention on the Lord.
Speak in tongues and then begin to sing in the spirit.
Pressure
across the forehead may sometimes be so severe that you cannot even think.
This show’s that your focus is being hit by the demonic oppression coming
against you or the very nature of the circumstance. It may also be an
indication that your vibration is too low. You can tell a great deal
about an individual by his vibrations (or, Spiritual Frequency).
If they have sunk to a rather negative position, it will sink down with
you and you become very oppressed. If you rise in the Spirit it
will come up higher.
If
you have the sensation along the ridge across the hairline, and you know
that it is a good sign and not oppressive, it is generally an
indication that there is an anointing of the Lord to bring a joining of
your spirit with your conscious realization and awareness of a thing.
You may be in a period of prayer and you say, “O Lord, I know You are dealing
with my heart, but I do not know what it is, Lord; will You give me wisdom?”
Then you feel the sign across the hairline and you know the Lord
is bridging the gap between your spirit and your conscious awareness of
what is taking place. The anointing that comes across the whole of the
forehead in a general sense means you will be alert, and God will be giving you
understanding.
At
many times you can feel love on a human plane, in the pit of your stomach
(butterflies, etc.). You can also feel oppressions. It is like a
nerve center for the soul, and the things that pertain to God, moving
through and pertaining your soul life, react in your stomach and solar
plexus. If a sign of oppression in that area increases, it means
you are living too much on a soul plane instead of the spirit plane.
Get out of that by going into a period of worship, not soulish worship,
lose your spirit in God so that your spirit takes ascendancy over your soul.
There have been times when the Jezebel spirit assaults the whole Body and
people begin complaining of their stomach’s aching. It is as if their stomach’s
are hardening as in doing sit-up exercises. This is a sign that the Body
is resisting the attempt of that lustful spirit’s intrusion. Other
times you may feel quite nauseous around someone or the whole Body is
getting hit with the same sign. This is the sign of the spirit of
lust coming against you.
Sometimes
you may have some oppressive sign that does not seem to cease when you
are in warfare. Let me give you a little counsel from my own experience
as to how you can break that when it seems to have a hold on you. Temperature
changes, changes in the rate of circulation of your blood, changes a mood that
are deliberately induced—all of these things help. Take a sauna
bath or a hot shower (as hot as you can tolerate) until you are completely
distracted by the heat. Or do just the opposite—use the coldest
available. A temperature change seems to break something in the
vibration of the spirit, and so you can change wavelengths. It works
like the turning of a radio dial—the sound may be coming through,
but it is not coming through to you. If you are physically able, jog
around the block or go for a brisk walk. Most of my
waiting on the Lord in times of conflict is done while walking. Whenever I
start walking, the anointing begins to flow in my hands and the
Lord begins to speak to me. Even revelation begins to surface. It helps to
change activity. Otherwise, you simply sit down with your
oppression. Move, do something. Change your mood.
Read some jokes or watch a funny program on television. By changing your
mood completely, within fifteen or twenty minutes you can break the oppression.
Usually the more you think about a thing and pray about it, the worse it
becomes. Just walk away and forget it. If you are thin
enough, raid the refrigerator. Do something. Usually worship will help
you to change the level. If you get up into the realm of spirit,
you will bypass the oppression in distracting yourself from the soulish level.
A
sharp stabling pain under the fifth rib may be a sign of treachery in the
works. It is a type of assault. A sign about the mouth may come
when you are about to prophesy. A sign across the eyes may come
for wisdom and knowledge. An anointing of the Lord on the teeth
is a sign that you can break down the ministry of the Word that comes to you
and further, understand the spiritual significance of it. Your teeth are
receiving an anointing to break down what is ministered to you so you can
understand it.
An
itching sensation in the ear generally indicates confusion or deception,
or the fact that the enemy is working against you. People who lack
confidence in themselves often will get that itching in their ear,
because the enemy talks to them and beats them down, until they think
they are no good and can’t do anything. Paul spoke of those in the last
days who would heap to themselves ‘teachers, having itching ears (2 Tim 4:3).
Notice that the little finger is the teacher, the only one who will be capable
of scratching or relieving someone of the ‘Itching Ear Syndrome;’ for every
false doctrine there is a false teacher somewhere that will bring temporary
relief to people whose only desire is to hear something good about themselves
that will serve to tickle their ears.
If
you get a sharp pain in your ear, you can expect to have a
lying spirit talk to you, although that will usually hit behind your ear too.
A
certain anointing all over the ears, making them appear rosy red, along
with a burning sensation, means you are right in tune to hear from the Lord.
A
type of pain about the chest (in the area of the ‘Breastplate of
Faith and Love’ - 1 Thess 5:8), a certain sign across the forehead,
and a sign of the operation of faith coming up the back of the head means
that God is giving you an anointing for great faith.
Any
crawling sensation is usually indicative of some type of witchcraft
working against you or something related to it. An itching
sensation reveals a spirit of confusion. A negative pain in the
heart is generally a sign of a direct attack against you. Sometimes
there is a sign on an intercessor that goes completely around the head,
worn like a band, as we mentioned before. Sometimes it is shaped
like a horseshoe.
Suppose
the room is warm and you are shivering. You will
become cold if there are many spirits around. When you walk into
a room where there is much demonic power present, a person often will
shiver. You probably have had the experience of getting goose
bumps when you are around someone who is devil-possessed. This means
that the emanations of those spirits are strong enough to reach you,
and you feel cold and start shivering. That is also
prevalent in judgment. When things are being judged, you will
often feel very cold. Cold
sometimes expresses itself that way, though not always. ‘and the hail (the Cold, Hard Facts) shall
sweep away the refuge of lies (Isa 28:17).’ There are times when my hands will
get icy cold—I know then, that the Lord is changing the atmosphere of the room
or area, and that judgment is going on to clear the way.
The
knees are always an indicator as to the sign of submission. A burning
sensation in the knees that is not oppressive means the Lord is working
submission in you.
A
spiritual assault is much easier to cope with, if it is a demon force, by
using the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus (Y’shua). If it is a
human psychic force it will be erratic, because the concentration
cannot continue long enough. Demons stay right with the assault,
constantly and consistently. Human psychic attacks can come for
short periods only. A psychic force using demon power can
continue to stay with you.
When
the signs come, and you are able to interpret them, they can be a little hint
toward the course of prophesying or line of faith in a service or an
intercessory prayer meeting. Suppose someone is being ministered to on the
platform, and you feel a sign—that does not necessarily mean you should get up
to prophesy that the Lord is going to deliver; there may be no opportunity for
it. However you can exercise your faith for that person and believe
there will be miracle deliverance, because you have the sign indicating
that the Holy Spirit is working a miracle or want to work a miracle.
Whatever
the signs indicated concerning what the Lord is doing, you can enter in with
your faith and become a channel for that specific blessing to be released. God
will bless you in it.