That is kind of a queer thing. “Why Paul, you aren’t dead yet!” “No,” he says, “I am not dead, but there is something I want to know.” “What?” “I want to know the power of His resurrection.” What do you suppose he is getting at? Have any of you a good guess?

“Spiritual resurrection,” someone says. “Yes, that touches on it.” “Spiritual life,” another says. ‘‘That’s right." He is not now dealing with the question of the resurrection of his body in the last day; he is not discussing that; he is talking about the things which are possible for him to realize right here and now: possible to know the life hidden in Him; possible to know the possession of the inheritance in Him; it is possible to know Him. Now it is also possible, he says, to know the power of His resurrection. I believe that Paul could now by anticipation, and we can too, partake of the resurrection power of Christ that we have in our heatings and in the quickenings of our bodies. I believe that. What makes me feel that? Because I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. I am a new creation. Paul says the same Spirit that dwelleth in you, is the same Spirit of the resurrection; it is the same Spirit of Life. He says it shall quicken the mortal body, the present body in which we are living; not the dead body down there, but he says: it will quicken your now mortal living body. (Rom. 8:11) And I think that is what Paul had. He did experience it. Remember how he came to life after he was stoned to death and the many times he had been quickened? Well, how? He began to partake, by anticipation, the power of that resurrection which eventually will take his body. And I believe that. Many of us have had that in our heatings. I remember the first time the resurrection power ever touched me was at the time of my first healing. I didn’t know anything about divine healing. I had never seen anyone healed nor anointed. I didn’t know anything at all about it. And yet the Lord spoke to me when I was in my last stages of typhoid fever. I had

sinking spells and was unconscious, and ready to pass out, and they had my name ready for my casket. (That was not very en­ couraging, but that was rea�y what had happened). I was away from home .and I was a stranger to them, and they knew I didn’t have a relative anywhere near me, and so they wanted to know where to send the body as I would die. Well, you can imagine what kind of a point I was in! As I sank down into un­ consciousness and then in a little while I would come back, Just fluttering faintly to a place of consciousness again, the Lord came by my side, by the bed, and He told me that He would heal me; that He wanted to. He said, “111 heal you; I want to heal you.” He made me know there was something ahead of me. And He said, “You believe that I will heal you and you will be healed; I can heal you. Now you believe that.” Why I didn’t know how to believe! It is like somebody coming to you and saying, “You can fly, you can fly, you can fly right now. Now believe you can fly!” How many know what a strange thing that would be? Well, that was just as strange as it was to me. I said, “Lord, I don’t know how to do it, I never did this before; I don’t know anything about it.” Well it was something! It was something! But I took Him at His Word, I dared to believe what He said He would do, and I knew He wouldn’t lie to me. So just in desperation (I don’t know how I ever did it) just in desperation I threw myself into the hands of God. I said, “Here I am; I believe what You say. I don’t know how You will do it or anything about it, but You said to believe that You would heal me, and I believe You will do it, Jesus, that’s all I know.” Well, that is all He wanted me to believe. It wasn’t very long after that when He stood there again, and I Just felt Him wave His hand over me. He didn’t touch me, just like He waved His hand over me, and that is when I felt this resurrection life. My body took it. It was Just a miracle! It was just a miracle! And here was

this racked body under the power of that deadly fever and my bowels were all inflamed with ulcers. They had ulcerated and I couldn’t bear the sheet over me, they had fixed blankets on each side of me so the sheet wouldn’t touch me. But the distress was so agonizing I couldn’t take it at all. And when He did that He just went … Whewww … and I felt LIFE coming in. I was all alone, and I said, “Lord, You touched me! You healed me!” “Why,” I said, “Lord, You healed me! Oh! I’m all right.” I pounded all over my body. “It’s all gone!”

I never had seen anyone healed; didn’t know anything about such a thing. And I did it just like that: I patted myself all over my abdomen, upon my chest, and all over, and I said, “Well, I am all right, Lord, I am all healed!”

That was the resurrection power, wasn’t it? That was the power; that was the same power that will touch my body when He pulls me up, exactly the same, exactly the same. Fifteen minutes after that the whole chain of ulcers that were in my intestines were out here where you could look at them-the whole chain of ulcers­ and you could see ulcers as big as my thumb. The whole in­ testinal tract was full of nothing but ulcers and that whole chain of ulcers laid out there like that! Well, He had to do something terrific with me because I am a queer case, and that was the first time He ever touched me and the first healing I ever had. But He had to make it outstanding and really spectacular and like a miracle so I would come to a consciousness that I got in touch with something I never knew before. And then this was just following my baptism of the Spirit, so He hurried everything He could; He never spared me. I tell you, He jammed everything into my life that He possibly could; He just crams it full. He never gives you time for one thing before He has you busy with another “the time is short - hurry up!”

I have lived more intensely in God in these years than some peo­ ple live in a hundred. I really have. He has made the life just in­ tense with things. He doesn’t give you time to get blessed over that before He is with this. I had just been baptized in the Spirit, I hardly knew what that was. It was only two weeks afterwards I was flat with the fever. Then a few days after I was up again. Then later I am down again. But He never has much mercy with me. He never coddles me. He never says, “Oh you are so choice, dear, I wouldn’t dare put you out in the sun, you might melt!” He never does things like that. He says, “You got to take that now. Now you have to have this. Now you want to know about healing? All right, 111 let you go down to death’s door and 111 tell you. You want to know what consecration is?” “Yes.” “Well, 111 skin you alive! Come out here, I want to skin you right now.” And He just skins you alive. And then I get a good time out of it, but I come out with something that folks can eat - see? “Well, I can’t imagine sweet Jesus doing anything so terrifying.” How many know the Lord had a terrifying time? How many would like to follow Him? How many know He fell down under it? Yes. He couldn’t even carry His cross, He Jell down under it! That was sweet lovely Jesus! Well, who are we?

Can’t we take a pain or two once in a while? “Well, I don’t like pain-I never like pain.”

Well, “Sit down, you don’t get far.” “I don’t like suffering, I don’t like the word suffering; it is so depressing.” Well, isn’t that strange! You don’t know very much. You have to be identified with Him, Paul says that, and he cer­ tainly was identified with Him. He went down to death and He came up and he went through things, but He knew God! ‘‘That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection," and now here is another before we go: