ACTIVATING THE SAINTS
by Dr. Bill Hamon

As soon as a person is born again, they are entitled to every inheritance Christ Jesus has bought for them as a Saint of God. However, most people today do not automatically begin seeing the supernatural works of Jesus manifest through their lives the moment they pray the sinners' prayer. Jesus' twelve apostles spent three years with Him learning by example. When they experienced the supernatural visitation of the Holy Spirit, their faith had to arise and reawaken what they had heard from Jesus, the Word of God. Then they acted upon their faith by doing the works of Jesus.

We have been given the same spiritual resources as the early Church, and now we have the words of Jesus written out for us in the New Testament. So how do we get Saints to move from hearing the Word to acting upon it?

In 1979 I chose the word "activation" to explain what we do in getting Saints to minister their spiritual gifts. Since we first started, we have developed more than fifty different ways to discover what gifts a Saint has within them. We then teach them how to fulfill the scriptural command to "stir up the gift of God which is within you. "1" Activation" applies to the process used to appropriate all the gifts and graces of God.

There are three major gifts individuals may receive from the Lord: the gift of eternal life, the gift of the Holy Spirit (or the baptism of the Holy Spirit) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Revelation for how these gifts are received, activated and manifested was restored during three different restoration movements: the gift of eternal life during the Protestant Movement in the 1500's; the gift of the Holy Spirit during the Pentecostal Movement around 1900; and the revelation and anointing for activating the Saints in the gifts of the Holy Spirit with the Prophetic Movement in the 1980's.

There was no scriptural understanding for receiving and manifesting these gifts within Christendom before a restoration movement came and brought enlightenment, application and the experience of receiving and manifesting.

FOUR BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN AN ACTIVATION

1. Hearing the Biblical Word of Truth on the Matter:

All divine gifts are given by God's grace but received by the faith of the individual. Faith comes by hearing God's Word of truth. You then know the truth and the truth makes you free to believe and receive. "2" So we first do biblical teaching to impart and build up faith. A God-fearing committed Christian cannot have faith to act upon something unless they can see that it is a scriptural truth. When they understand and believe the Word of truth on activating gifts, then their desire and faith arises to fulfill that ministry. "3"

2. Believing in the HEART:

Romans 10:10 declares that "with the heart one believes ." When we believe in our heart, it puts us in right relationship with God, which the Bible calls righteousness. Faith does not operate out of the head but from the heart. The mind can feed the biblical facts and other information to the heart (spirit) that is needed to manufacture faith, but when faith is produced it will only operate from the heart. When the proper ingredients needed for faith to be formed are put in the heart, then faith is born and becomes alive and active. That is what the Word means when it says "faith comes." Faith comes into being when our spirit hears and believes the Word of God on the matter. Romans 10:8 says, "The word of faith is in your heart." God has decreed that faith will only function from within the heart.

3. Confessing with the MOUTH:

Romans.10:10 further states that "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." For faith to work from the heart, the mouth must cooperate by speaking, agreeing and performing. James 2:26 says, "Faith without works is dead." This means it is inactive, not workable, non-productive, not useful but worthless. It would be the same to say, "Believing in the heart but not speaking it out with the mouth is non-productive." We can speak things with our mouth that are not motivated by faith, but living, biblical faith cannot fulfill its full function without the mouth speaking it.

In other words, if we believe in our heart the scriptures that say, "Covet to prophesy" and "you may all prophesy one by one," then we will open our mouth and "prophesy according to the amount of faith in our heart."4" When a Christian says, "I believe" a certain biblical truth, but they do not practice that scriptural principle, then it is not faith but simply acknowledging that the truth is valid. King David said, "I believed, therefore I have spoken."5"

4. Taking Corresponding Action:

If we really believe something in our heart and are confessing it with our mouth, then we must take actions that are in alignment with what we are saying that we believe. Faith without corresponding action is dead. Dead faith will not appropriate the promises of a living God nor produce the works of God. "Faith by itself, if it does not have works (corresponding action), is dead. Show me your faith without your works (if you can), and I will show you my faith by my works."6"

Abraham took action in alignment with what he believed was the word of the Lord to him. He took Isaac and put him on the altar and "by works faith was made perfect."7" We must take corresponding action if we are going to activate and manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You can determine how much faith you have by how much positive action you are taking in agreement with what you have been praying for and believing to receive.

To learn more about the Saints Movement, we encourage you to read Dr. Hamon's book, Day of the Saints.

1. 2 Timothy 1:6.
2. John 8:32.
3. Romans 10:17.
4. 1 Corinthians 14:1, 31, 39; Romans 12:6; Matthew 12:34-37.
5. Psalm 116:10; 2 Corinthians 4:13.
6. James 2:14-26 Amp.
7. James 2:22.