PUBLI SHED BY KENNETH E. HAGIN EVANGELI STI C ASSOCI ATI ON, P. O.

Box 50126, -
TULSA, OKLA. 74150 JUNE, 1968 Vol . I No. 3
SIX HINDRANCES TO FAITH
I Timothy 6:12 - " Fi ght the
good fight of faith, lay hold on
eternal l i f e, whereunto thou art
also called, and hast professed
a good profession before many
wi t nesses. "
I want you to notice part i cu-
l ary the fi rst clause of this
ver s e, "Fi ght the good fight of
fai t h. " "Fi ght the good fight of
fai t h. " Wel l , the only fight we
have is the fight of faith. I hear
folk say somet i mes that t hey' re
going to fight the devi l . I don' t
know what for because they
wouldn' t be a match f or him
anyway. And secondly, Jesus
has already defeated him for
you. He was your substitute.
Then again I hear folk say,
" I ' m going to fight si n. " Wel l ,
I ' m not. I' m going to preach
the cure for sin. No use fighting
it. I have a cure for it. Jesus
is the cure. No, the only fight
that the bel i ever i s cal l ed upon
to fight i s the good fight of
faith. Wel l , there is a fight to
faith for this text says, " Fi ght
the good fight of fai t h. " If there
i s a fight, then there must be
enemi es or hindrances to faith.
If there weren' t any enemi es to
faith or hindrances to faith there
wouldn't be any fight to it. So,
we' l l talk about the six big
hindrances to faith.
The Bible says in Romans
10:17, "So then faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the
word of God. " Many peopl e,
when you talk to them, wi l l
confess their lack of faith, when
actually they are only failing to
rel ease it. Thei r lack of faith
is real l y not the pr obl em. The
real reason for lack of faith is
a lack of knowledge of God' s
Word. " F o r faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word
of God. " Someone said to me,
" Ye s , that' s my pr obl em. I
don' t know much about the Word
but I need f ai t h. " You can' t get
it any other way except through
the Wor d. Someone el se said,
" I ' m prayi ng God wi l l gi ve it to
me . " Wel l , you are wasting your
t i me. You might as wel l twiddle
your fi ngers or thumbs and sing,
" T w i n k l e , T w i n k l e , Li t t l e
St ar, " because it would do just
as much good as if you prayed
f or faith. But if you' l l take t i me
to feed upon the Wor d of God
yoursel f, and listen to the many
mi ni st ry gifts that God has put
into His church, (and t eachers
are a mi ni st ry gift that He has
put t her e) , then faith wi l l come
to ^your spirit and l i f e, f or you
can r ecei ve knowledge that way.
A lack of knowledge wi l l hinder
us and hold us in bondage, be-
cause we do not act upon God' s
Wor d, beyond knowl edge. Faith
wi l l gr ow with an understanding
of the Word and if your faith is
not growi ng then your under-
standing of the Word isnot gr ow-
ing. A lack of knowledge of what
God' s Word says, a lack of
knowledge of our redemption,
a lack of knowledge of our r e-
demptive rights in Chri st Jesus
are oftentimes the reasons for
unbelief.
I.
Let me gi ve you these six
big hindrances to faith. The
fi rst is lack of understanding
of what it means to be a new
creat ure or what the new cr ea-
tion means. In II Cor . 5:17 it
says, " The r e f or , if any man be
in Chri st , he is a new creat ure.
Old things are passed away,
behold all things are new. "
1
A lack of understanding of what
the new creat ure is and what it
means to be a new creat ure hin-
der s our faith l i f e. Many people
do not know that they are new
cr eat ur es. They think God just
f or gave them of their sins but
it wouldn' t do any good for God
just to f or gi ve the sinner of
his sins. It wouldn' t help him
a bit in the wor l d if that was
all the sinner r e c e i v e d . He
would still go to hell for he' s
a child of the devi l . He has to
be born again. He has to be-
come a new creat ure in Chri st
Jesus. No, we are not just
f or gi ven si nners. No, we are not
poor , s t a g g e r i n g , sinning,
bar el y- get t i ng- al ong c h u r c h
member s . No, we are not l i vi ng
down at the end of the block on
b a r e 1 y- get t i ng- a 1 o n g st reet
next to grumbl e al l ey. That ' s
not for us. We a r e n e w
cr eat ur es, creat ed by God in
Chri st Jesus with the ver y life
and the nature of God in our
KENNETH E. HAGI N
spi ri t s. We are chi l dren of God,
sons of God, and hei rs of God,
joint heirs with Jesus Chri st .
Many people do not know they
have eternal l i f e. They think of
t hemsel ves as being saved from
sin. But John says in his fi rst
epi st l e, " The s e things wr i t e I
unto you that bel i eve on the name
of the Son of God that ye may
know that ye have eternal l i f e . "
When you know what you have
and who you are in Chri st , it
makes all the di fference in the
worl d.
II
The second hindrance is that
so many have a lack of under-
standing of our place in Chri st
and Chri st ' s place in our l i f e.
I suggest to Christians ever y-
where that we need to do some
d e f i n i t e study along certain
l i nes. I suggest to folk to go
through t he New Test ament ,
part i cul arl y the Epi st l es, and
wri t e down ent i re phrases. Be -
cause what you wri t e down, you
r emember better. You' l l find
these expressi ons, " I n Chr i st , "
"I n Whom, " and " I n Hi m. "
You' l l find that' expressions like
these occur 133 or 134 t i mes in
the New Test ament . The reason
I say 133 or 134 is because 1
use a couple that don' t say these
exact words but infer it. For
instance, I use I John 4:4 that
says, " Gr eat er is he that is in
you than he that is in the wor l d. "
The other one I use l i ke this is
Col . 1:13 which says, "Who
hath d e l i v e r e d us from the
power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son. " Who r ef er s
to God, the Fat her. If you' l l
go through the New Test ament
and confess, " Thi s is who I
am, " " Thi s is what I have, "
you' ll find l i fe wi l l be different
for you.
Il l
The third hindrance is a lack
of understanding of ri ght eous-
ness, what it gi ves and what
it i s. Thi s hold^ mor e people
in bondage than anything el se.
I never shall forget when I lay
on the bed of affliction year s
ago, that I began to see the
scri pt ures on healing and faith.
I came to James 5:16, which
says, " Th e effectual fervent
pr ayer of a righteous man avai l -
eth much. " I looked at that ver se
of scri pt ure and I thought, "Oh
my, if I wer e only righteous,
if I could ever get to be ri ght -
eous, God would h e a r my
pr a ye r s . " One day I happened to
be reading that a little mor e
cl osel y and noticed God said
Elijah was s u b j e c t to like
passions as we are. He gave him
as mi exampl e of a righteous
man. Something r egi st er ed in
me and I thought if this man
could be cal l ed a righteous man
I could too because I was l i ke
him. He had his high moment s
and his low moment s. I thought
to mysel f, " How could God call
a person like that righteous
when he was so i nconsi st ent . "
But I read in Psal m 32 where
it says, " Bl es s ed is the man
whose sin is cover ed. Bl essed
i s the man to whom the Lor d
imputeth not i ni qui t y. " God i m-
puted righteousness to those
whose sins had been cover ed
by the blood. Then I found in
II Cor . 5:21 where it says, " For
he hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the ri ght eous-
n e s s of God in hi m. " I saw then
that the b l o o d of J e s u s
cleanseth us from all sin and
that by the new birth we become
a righteous new creat ure. Now
God did not make an unrighteous
new creat ure. We are creat ed
by God in Chri st Jesus. He made
a righteous new creat ure. We
are sons and daughters of God
as though we never sinned. We
can stand in His - presence
without any kind of feel i ng of
i nferi ori t y, si n-consci ousness,
or without any kind of embar -
rassment . We don't have to be
tongue-tied because of fear. We
can come into His presence be-
cause we belong t here. When
we wer e born again our sins
wer e remi t t ed because our past
l i fe stopped exi st i ng. God said
that he would not r emember our
t ransgressi ons. He doesn' t r e-
member , so why should we
re mem Ix) r ?
Someone might say he has
sinned a lot since then and is so
weak but 1 have news for him.
In I John 1:9 it says, " I f we
confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to f or gi ve us our sins,
and to cl eanse us from all un-
ri ght eousness. " He does two
things for the bel i ever who may
have sinned. When he confesses
his sins the Lor d f or gi ves hi m.
When we have sinned we feel
guilty and have a sense of un-
ri ght eousness. We feel embar -
rassed and spi ri t ual l y i nferi or
to come into His presence. But
he says that He also cl eanses
f r om all unrighteousness. Un-
righteousness is just the word,
righteousness with the prefi x
"un" on the front of it that
means not or non-righteouness.
If I am cl eansed from non-
righteousness then I' m ri ght -
eous again. I ' ve found many
t i mes that when I get folk to see
this, t h e y automatically get
healed. They' ve been under con-
demnation and have thought God
was mad at them. They failed
to understand that they are the
righteousness of God, in Chri st .
IV
The fourth hindrance is a lack
of understanding of our pr i vi -
l ege or right to use the name of
the Lor d Jesus Chri st . Thi s wi l l
hold us in bondage and wi l l gi ve
us a sense of weakness. When
we know what that name wi l l do
then we can defeat Satan and en-
j oy vi ct or y. Everybody bel i eves
that the name of Jesus can be
used in pr ayer , because Jesus
said, "What s oever you shall ask
the Father in my name He wi l l
gi ve it you. Hitherto ye have
asked nothing in my name, ask
that your joy may be f ul l . " I
suggest that the name of Jesus
can be used ever ywher e that the
Word indicates that it can. Jesus
hi msel f said that in the ver ses
we just quoted in John 16:23, 24.
In the 16th chapter of Mark He
says, " Go ye into all the worl d
and preach the gospel to ever y
cr eat ur e. " He goes on saying,
" He that bel i evet h and is bap-
tized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow
them that be l i e ve . " To them that
bel i eve 'the gospel these signs
shall follow them - - not the
ear l y church, not the apostles,
SOME SUBJECTS DEALT WI TH
IN FAI TH STUDY COURSE
1. How to Tr ai n the Human
Spirit.
2. Confession Bri ngs
Possessi on.
3. How to Turn Your Faith
Loos e.
4. Seven Steps to The Highest
Kind of Faith.
5. Doubt, Thi ef of God' s
Greatest Bl essi ngs.
6. How to Wr i t e Your Own
Ti cket with God.
7. What it Means to Bel i eve
with the Heart .
8. Faith Actions that
Correspond with The Wor d.
9. You Can Have What You Say.
10. How Faith Comes, et c. et c.
The above l i st gi ves you a
bi rd' s eye vi ew of some of the
most interesting and intriguing
subjects d e a l t with here in
Brot her Hagin' s own inimitable
manner. They contain not only
the Word of God, a "thus saith
the Lor d, " but nuggets of truth,
sparkling side l i ght s, st ori es
and rich illustrations out of
twenty-five year s of preachi ng
the Go s p e l by Evangel i st
Kenneth Hagin. Thi s s t u d y
course can and wi l l change the
whole course of your l i fe if
you begin to put into pr act i ce
the truths and scri pt ures taught
here by our own mast er t eacher,
Brot her Hagin. Your e d i t o r
feel s it i s wel l worth t wi ce the
investment. ( W. B. C. )
PRI CE $5.00. Order yours
today from KENNETH E. HAGI N
EVANGELI STI C ASSOCI ATI ON,
P. O. Box 50126, TULSA, OKLA.
74150.
AI RLI FT TRI P CANCELLED
Because of ver y seri ous i l l -
nesses in both of our f ami l i es
my wife and I wer e unable to
make the F. G. B. F. I . Scandina-
vian Ai r l i f t . We have also had
to alter our May schedule. We
wi l l however be conducting a
Seminar in the latter part of
May in D a l l a s , Texas at
Christian Cent er. Thank you
for your prayer and financial
support in this t i me of cr i s i s .
No t h i n g l i es be y ond t he r e a c h of pr ayer
except t hat whi c h i s out si de t he wi l l of
Go d .
BI BLE CASES
Some h a v e written asking
about the Hand-crafted Bi bl e
cases we used to car r y. We
are glad to report that we can
furnish you with these cases.
The l ar ge cases are $15.00.
The medium case is $14.00
and the small is $12.00.
NEW BOOK AVAI LABLE
THE MI NI STRY OF
THE PROPHET . . .
Our new book, " Th e Mi ni s-
try Of The Pr ophet , " just off
the pr ess i s one of great i nt er-
est to people e v e r y w h e r e .
Brot her Hagin t el l s in these
pages of his visit with the Lor d
Jesus who came to him in per -
son while he was in the hospital.
Jesus talked with him and gave
him much s o u n d instruction
r el at i ve to his own mi ni st ry,
which i s, as most of you know,
The Mi ni st ry Of a Prophet .
Read what Jesus told him per -
sonally about one of the Mi ni s -
try Gifts as taught in the New
Test ament . Everyt hi ng taught
here is backed up by the New
Test ament , and exper i ence.
PRI CE 50<? . . . Or der f r om
P. O. Box 50126, Tul sa, Old a.
JUNE P RAYE R LESSON
Don' t forget to or der your June
pr ayer l esson. The subject is
" Th e Pr a ye r of Binding and
Loos i ng. " Wr i t e Box 50126,
Tul sa, Okla.
THREE NEW TAPES
Those of you who own tape
r ecor der s wi l l want the three
latest tapes now available from
Brot her Hagi n' s teaching mi n-
i st ry. Pl ease note the numbers,
and the subjects l i st ed:
#25 Side 1 - - Di scerni ng of
Spi ri t s, Side 2 Worki ng of
Mi r acl es . . . $4.00.
#26 Side 1 - - Int ercessi on,
Side 2 Gifts of The Sp i r i t . . .
$3.00.
#27 Two Tapes on the Gift
of Prophecy . . . $8.00.
I t ' s unf or t una t e t h. i t s o me peopl e ar c
l i ke t he ol d mu l e , wh i c h was awf ul l y b a c k -
war d about goi ng f or war d!
SIX HI NDRANCES - Cont' d
not the pr eacher - - but the
bel i ever s . They can cast out
devi l s in His name.
V
The fifth hindrance is a*lack
of understanding about acting
upon the Wor d. We should stop
t ryi ng and start acting. The
Bi bl e says, " Tr us t in the Lor d
and l e a n not unto thine own
u n d e r s t a n d i n g . " Al l that' s
necessary for you to ask is
"What has God sai d?" If we
know that the Wor d i s true and
we act as though it wer e true
it becomes a real i t y in our
l i ves .
VI
The sixth hindrance is a lack
of understanding that we are to
hold fast to our confession of
faith. In Hebrews 4:14 it says,
" L e t us hold fast our confes-
s i on. " Our faith keeps pace with
our confession. In Romans 10:10
it says, " F o r with the heart
man bel i evet h unto righteous-
ness; and with the n.ou" con-
fessi on is made unto sal vat i on. "
Jesus said in Mark 11:23, "That
whosoever shall say unto his
mountain, Be thou r emove^ and
be thou cast into the ser; and
shall not doubt in h:'s neart,
but shall bel i eve tha* those
things which he saith sh_Jl come
to pass; he shall hav ; whatso-
e ve r he sai t h. " When I was
preachi ng in St. Loui s, a young
full gospel mi ni st er, who was
ser vi ng as youth di rect or of
the church there said, " Br o .
Hagin, I' m 32 and the doct ors
have said it is i mpossi bl e for
us to have any chi l dren. Wi l l
you talk and pray with me and
my wi f e ? " I told them I would.
So we talked and his wife said
she would confess that they
would have a chi l d. She said that
she would say now that they
would have one instead of saying
they' d like to have one. Aft er
12 months I r ecei ved a l et t er
that said they had a bouncing
baby gi r l . Al l they needed was
to act upon the Wor d. Faith is
measured by our confession.
Our usefulness in the Lor d is
measured by our confession.
Bible Faith Study Course
by
KENNETH HAGIN
P . O . B o x 5 0 1 2 6
TULSA, OKLAHOMA 7 4 1 5 0