The meeting in Switzerland had just ended. I’d prayed for the sick, and we were about to leave the building when two young boys came running up to us, out of breath, with an urgent message. There’s a man still inside, a blind man. He was born blind, never seen a single day in his entire life. But here’s what gripped my heart. This man heard the word preached that afternoon. and he told those boys he wasn’t going home until he could see.
Brothers and sisters, when was the last time you heard someone say that? When was the last time you said that? This man had spent his entire existence in darkness, and something in the Word that day awakened such hunger in his spirit that he planted his feet and said, I’m not leaving empty. Let me read you what the Word declares in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Church, that blind man understood something most Christians never grasp. Let me tell you what happened when we went back inside that building. But before I tell you about that blind man’s miracle, I need you to understand something that will shake you to your core. You can be dying of thirst right in the middle of a river of plenty. You can be surrounded by everything you need and still perish from want. Let me paint you a picture. There was once a vessel sailing in the mouth of the Amazon River. Now, the Amazon is the largest river in the world. Fresh water pouring into the ocean with such force that it stays fresh for miles and miles out to sea. But these sailors didn’t know they were in the river. They thought they were still in the salt water of the ocean. And beloved, they were dying of thirst. Some of them had nearly been driven mad from dehydration, their tongues swollen, their lips cracked and bleeding. Then they spotted another ship. with their last strength they signaled desperately water we need water some of us are dying and do you know what those sailors on the other ship called back dip your bucket right over you’re in the mouth of the river can you imagine it dying of thirst while floating on fresh water the very thing they needed was all around them above them below them surrounding them on every side but they didn’t know it they didn’t reach out they didn’t dip down and take it. Brethren, I’m here to tell you that most Christians today are in that exact same condition. You’re dying spiritually while floating in a river of God’s abundant life. You’re gasping for power while surrounded by the very presence of the Almighty. You’re living in weakness when strength is yours for the taking. You’re settling for a thimbleful when God is offering you an ocean. Now, Let me show you something that breaks the heart of God. Some people come to him with only a very small idea of his fullness. They come with their little thimbles, and they get their little thimble filled, and they go away satisfied. You can just imagine God saying, Oh, if they only knew how much they could receive. I’ve watched it happen again and again. Other people come with a larger vessel, maybe a cup, maybe a pitcher, and they go away satisfied. But, beloved, you can feel how much God is longing for us to have such a desire for more, such a hunger, such a longing that only He Himself can satisfy. Listen to me carefully. There is no peace, no help, no source of strength, no power, no life. Nothing that can satisfy the cry of the child of God but the Word of God. Everything else will leave you empty. Everything else will leave you wanting. Everything else will fail you when you need it most. It’s like a screaming child being passed from person to person, and nobody can calm that child down. But the moment that baby gets into the arms of his mother, peace comes. Why? Because that’s where the child belongs. That’s the source. Church, you’ll never find satisfaction anywhere but in God himself. God has a special way of satisfying the cry of his children. He is waiting to open to us the windows of heaven until he has so moved in the depths of our hearts that everything unlike himself has been destroyed. No one in this place needs to go away dry today. God wants you to be filled. My brother, my sister, God wants you today to be like a watered garden. filled with the fragrance of his own heavenly joy, until you know at last that you have touched immensity. The Son of God came for no other purpose than to lift and lift and mold and fashion and remold us until we become conformed to his own mind. But here’s what you need to understand. You may have the Word, but you need an awakened spirit. The Word is not alive until it is moved upon by the Spirit of God. In the right sense it becomes spirit and life when it is touched by His hand alone. You see, there is a death that has no life in it, and there is a death likeness with Christ that is full of life. Beloved, there is no such thing as an end to God’s beginnings. But we must be in Him. We must know Him. The Holy Spirit is not just a touch or a breath. Listen to me. He is the Almighty God. He is a person. He is the Holy One, dwelling in the temple, not made with hands. Beloved, when he touches, it is done. He is the same God over all who is rich unto all who call upon him. And here’s what most Christians don’t understand. Pentecost is the last thing that God has to touch the earth with. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the last thing. If you do not get this, you are living in a weak and impoverished condition that is no good to yourself or anybody else. I know that the dry ground can have floods, and may God save me from ever wanting anything less than a flood. I will not stoop for small things when I have such a big God. Through the blood of Christ’s atonement, we may have riches and riches and riches. We need the warming atmosphere of the Spirit’s power to bring us closer and closer until nothing but God can satisfy. It’s just like a sparrow taking a drink of the ocean and then looking around and saying, What a vast ocean. What a lot more I could have taken if I had only had room. Beloved, God has so much left over after we’ve taken all that we can. Now let me tell you something about your position in Christ. Through Jesus, God has given you power over all the power of the enemy. He has worked out your eternal redemption. You are not subject to Satan. Satan is subject to you. You see, almost all the ailments that you are heir to are satanically caused, and they must be dealt with as satanic. They must be cast out. Do not listen to what Satan says to you, for the devil has been a liar from the beginning. If people would only listen to the truth of God, they would find out that they are over the devil, over all satanic forces. They would realize that every evil spirit is subject to them. They would find out that they are always in the place of triumph, and they would reign in life by King Jesus. The scripture declares it plainly, For in that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put under him. Everything has been put under Jesus, and you are in Christ. Never live in a place that is less than where God has called you to. And he has called you up on high to live with him. Now, let me take you back to that meeting hall in Switzerland. We walked back inside, and there he stood. This man who had never seen light, never seen colors, never seen a human face. He had been born into total darkness. But something happened when he heard the Word preached that afternoon. Something awakened in his spirit. A hunger rose up. A holy dissatisfaction with his condition gripped him. And he made a decision that changed everything. He would not leave that place until he could see. If I ever have joy, beloved, it is when I have a lot of people who will not be satisfied until they get all that they have come for. This is the kind of faith that moves the heart of God. With great joy, I anointed that man and laid my hands on his eyes. And church, immediately, not gradually, not over time, but immediately, God opened his eyes. Now watch what happened next. The man started acting very strangely. There were electric lights in that building, and the first thing he did was count them. One, two, three, his voice trembling with wonder. Then he turned and counted us, pointing at each person with tears streaming down his face. One, two, three, four, five. Oh, the ecstatic pleasure that man experienced every moment. It made us all feel like weeping and dancing and shouting all at the same time. This was a man experiencing reality for the very first time. Then he did something that broke our hearts. He pulled out his watch, the watch he had carried for years, and he said, For years I’ve been feeling the raised figures on this watch in order to tell the time. His fingers had memorized every bump, every marker. But now, he said, his voice cracking with emotion, now I can look at it and tell you the time. Then, it hit him. Like a man awakening from some deep sleep or some long, strange dream, he suddenly realized he had never seen the faces of his father and mother, never seen their smiles, never looked into their eyes, never watched them age. In that moment, he turned toward the door and rushed out into the street, running toward home. That night, beloved, he was the first one in the meeting. Everyone in that town knew him as the blind man, the man born in darkness. And I had to give him a long time to testify, to talk about his new sight, because the people needed to see the glory of God. Church, what made the difference for that blind man? Was it my prayer? No. Was it my faith? No. It was the word he heard that afternoon. Something in that word created such hunger. such expectation, such refusal to settle, that when we laid hands on him, God had to respond. The scripture says in Hebrews that we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. That blind man gave earnest heed. He didn’t let the word slip away. He grabbed hold of it. He planted his feet on it. He refused to leave without his miracle. And listened to what the word declares. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will? God bears witness with signs and wonders, with various miracles, with gifts of the Holy Spirit, but you’ll never see it if you’re satisfied with your thimbleful. You’ll never experience it if you’re content to die of thirst in the middle of the river. Jesus, the perfect doctor. Let me tell you about Dr. Jesus. If you went to see an earthly doctor, the more you told him, the more he would know. But when you come to Dr. Jesus, he knows everything from the beginning, and he never gives you the wrong medicine. I went to see a doctor one time, and someone in that office said, Here is a person who has been poisoned through and through by another doctor, giving him the wrong medicine. But Jesus sends his healing power and brings his restoring grace, and so there is nothing to fear. The only thing that is wrong is your wrong conception of the mightiness of his redemption. He was wounded so that he might be touched with a feeling of your infirmities. He took your flesh and laid it upon the cross so that he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Now, beloved, let me speak directly to your heart. Most Christians will never experience what I’m talking about. Most believers will live their entire lives settling for less. Most will die of thirst in the middle of the river because they’re too comfortable, too satisfied, too afraid to reach out and take what God is offering. But that doesn’t have to be you. I’m issuing you a challenge today, and it’s the same challenge that blind man accepted. Refuse to leave God’s presence until you receive everything he has for you. Don’t settle for a thimbleful when he’s offering an ocean. Don’t be satisfied with weakness when he’s offering strength. Don’t accept spiritual poverty when he’s offering riches beyond measure. The majority of believers struggle with this because it requires something uncomfortable. It requires you to admit that what you have isn’t enough. It requires you to stop defending your spiritual mediocrity and start hungering for more. It requires you to stop making excuses about why you don’t have the power, why you don’t see miracles, why your prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling. Here’s what you must do. First, recognize that you’re in the river. Everything you need is already surrounding you. The fullness of God is available. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is yours. The authority over Satan is yours. The power to live victoriously is yours. Stop dying of thirst and dip your bucket over. Second, refuse to settle. Don’t let another day go by where you’re satisfied with less than God’s best. That blind man could have gone home and said, Well, I tried. But he didn’t. He planted his feet and said, I’m not leaving until I can see. What is your until? What are you refusing to leave without? Third, give earnest heed to the word. The Bible declares in John chapter 6 verse 63 that the words Jesus speaks are spirit and life. But they’re only alive when the spirit touches them. Ask God to awaken your spirit to his word. Stop reading it like a religious duty and start receiving it like a starving person at a feast. Fourth, understand your authority. You are not under Satan. You are over him. You are not subject to sickness. It’s subject to you. You are not a victim. You are more than a conqueror through Christ who loves you. Stop living beneath your privileges. In the last eight years, I have seen thousands and thousands of people healed by the power of God. Last year in Sweden alone, in the last five months of the year, we saw over 7,000 people saved by the power of God. The tide is rolling in, beloved. See to it today that you get right out into that tide, for it will bear you up. The heart of God’s love is the center of all things. Get your eyes off yourself. Lift them up high and see the Lord, for in the Lord is everlasting strength. I wonder how much you want to take away today. You couldn’t carry it if it were an actual substance. But there is something about the grace and the power and the blessings of God that can be carried, no matter how big they are. Oh, what a Savior! What a place we are in by grace, that he may come in to commune with us. He is willing to say to every heart, ‘Peace, be still,’ and to every weak body, ‘Be strong.’ Are you going halfway, or are you going right to the end? Do not be deceived today by Satan, but believe God. That blind man went home and saw his parents’ faces for the first time. What are you going home with today? More of the same, or a testimony that will make heaven rejoice? Father, In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray for every person reading these words right now. Lord, you know the ones who have been dying of thirst while floating in your river of abundance. You see the ones who have settled for a thimbleful when you’re offering an ocean. Right now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, awaken their spirits. Create in them a hunger that cannot be satisfied with anything less than your fullness. Give them the boldness of that blind man. who refuse to leave empty. Baptize them afresh with your Holy Spirit. Open their eyes to see the authority they have in Christ. Destroy every lie of the enemy that says they must live in weakness and defeat. Let them dip their buckets deep into the river of your presence and drink until they overflow. May they never again settle for spiritual mediocrity, but press in daily for more of you. We declare this by faith in Jesus’ name. Amen. I believe with all my heart that as you’ve learned about refusing to settle for less than God’s fullness today, you’ve been awakened to the abundant life that’s been surrounding you all along. The understanding you’ve gained about your authority in Christ and the availability of God’s power is already creating a holy dissatisfaction with spiritual mediocrity. Comment below with, I refuse to die of thirst in God’s river, and share what area of your spiritual life you’re refusing to settle for less in anymore. Your declaration might ignite someone else’s faith today. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell for rare, timeless, and anointed teachings that will help you grow spiritually and walk in the authority Christ intended for you. Starting today, practice this: Every morning, before you do anything else, declare out loud, I will not settle for a thimbleful when God is offering an ocean. Today I dip my bucket deep into his river of life. Then, spend at least fifteen minutes in his word, asking the Holy Spirit to awaken it in your spirit. Don’t read it religiously. Receive it hungrily, like that blind man who wouldn’t leave until he could see. but refusing to settle for god’s fullness is only the beginning you must also understand what gives you authority to use it why do some believers cast out demons with a word while others get spiritually beaten and humiliated what’s the difference between mechanically using Jesus name and wielding his authority with power could it be that demons recognize who truly knows Christ versus who’s just repeating religious formulas. How can you move from religious activity to genuine spiritual authority that makes hell tremble? Check out this next video to discover the shocking story of seven religious men who tried to use Jesus’ name without knowing him. Learn the crucial difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ intimately and receive the revelation that transforms you from someone who uses the name to someone demons actually recognize and fear.
By Smith Wigglesworth