Fully Persuaded — David Wilkerson

Being Fully Persuaded in Faith

I'd like to speak to you as a father. One day when my great-grandchildren ask about their great-grandfather and my grandchildren or their children ask about what was great-granddad like, what did he believe, I think I would want them to know what I'm preaching to you this morning from my heart.

I'm going to speak to you as a father. I don't think I'm going to be preaching a sermon to you, but things I've learned. I'd like to talk to you about the importance of being fully persuaded, fully persuaded.

Paul, the apostle, had just gotten word from the Lord that he's being poured out as water. He said, I've been told by the Lord my time is up. And he said, I'm going home. And one of the last things he said, he was speaking to Timothy, his son.

He's speaking as a father, not only to Timothy, but to the church. He's speaking down through the ages. He's speaking to me. He's speaking to you. And he said in 2 Timothy 1, 12 and 14, I know who I have believed.

He said, I don't have any question. That's all been settled. I know who I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He said, I am already being poured out as a drink offering.

The time of my departure has come. Have fought a good fight. Finished the course. I've kept the faith. Father, you are our father. We honor you. We give our hearts to you. Lord, you put me in this pulpit over 20 years ago and you told me before I came, there were two things that had to be done.

One was to warn the city of coming judgments, and the other was to find a holy remnant and build them up in preparation for the coming of Christ. And we have seen you build a remnant. We have seen you, God, do such a miracle and we've been faithful to proclaim the word that you said was to be proclaimed.

And now I stand before you at this time and this place. Lord, you brought us to this time, this place. I am so glad I'm in this generation. I'm so glad I live in this time because it's a good time because you are good, father.

You are faithful in Jesus name. Speak to our hearts, I pray in Christ's name. Paul said, I know whom believed and I I've committed, I'm fully persuaded that he'll keep that which I've committed on him against that day.

And he doesn't tell us what those things are. He didn't tell us. He makes no list of those things that he has given in the hands of God to keep. I would like to tell you that it's important today more than any generation to be fully persuaded to know what you believe, that your faith has a foundation.

There are certain things that you have settled. There's no question in your mind. No demon, no devil in hell can move you. You've laid a hold of something that is so real to you. And when the enemy comes in like a flood, when things look impossible, you take your stand on this and you are fully persuaded.

Nobody moves you. Let me give you some of the things from over 57, 58 years of preaching and 78 years of living. And I think the most important thing that he has ever persuaded me about, and I am so fully persuaded of this, if this is the only thing that you ever heard from these lips.

Nothing Can Separate Believers from God's Love

I am fully persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of God. Nothing. Paul said, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, if you know this, you can say it right out with me, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, not height, not depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

He goes into Romans 8, 35, 37, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

Now, I want to tell you this, not just as a father, but as a servant of the Lord, minister of this gospel. This is the one thing the devil is after. This is the one hindrance that's going to face you in the days ahead.

And you will be tested on this more than anything else, because when the enemy comes in like a flood, when you find yourself in conditions that seem to be beyond control, and when things go from bad to worse, and when you look around and you hear a voice of the enemy saying, how can this be the love of God?

How can this be the love of God? And he will try to convince you that somehow, because of past sin that he brings to your remembrance, because of something that you cannot comprehend, or you have not been able to figure out the meaning of faith, that maybe your faith is wavered.

Maybe you have not figured it out. Maybe it's been too slow to believe. Maybe you have so measured and compared your faith to others, and you've given up, and you come to a place where you say, I've prayed a river of tears.

I have sought every scripture that I can bring to remembrance, and the enemy will come to you and say, this is the love of God? Is this how God treats his children? And you're going to be tested on this.

Standing Through Trials and Spiritual Opposition

And I'll tell you, this has done more to strengthen my faith than anything that God has ever revealed to me. Yes, we've been through a lot of tests lately, too, family and all hell. When you speak out and prophesy the word of God, you pay a price, a heavy price.

And I know that I can stand before every devil in hell. I've been through the fire, I've been through the flood, and I'm still standing in the grace of God. I've walked with a saint who for 40 years has suffered pain.

I don't think there's been a month in her life she hasn't suffered pain. And there are times the enemy comes at me and he'll say, oh, so this is how it ends. You give your life, you give everything you have, and you do everything, you pray, and you seek the face of God.

And look how you end up in pain. Your wife in bed. We had to fight all the hell to get here. She was in bed fast for almost the past month. But you see something rises up inside. It's called the Holy Ghost.

It's called the Holy Spirit. And Gwen sits on the edge of the bed and she says, honey, this is the devil. He doesn't want us to go to New York. He doesn't want us to go to the Bible school and preach the 15th anniversary where kids have come, the alumni have come from all over the United States and around the world after 15 years.

It's just a Catholic school here. And we're going no matter what it is. We're going to get up on the feet because we know, we know. We eat nothing, no creature out of hell. No one can separate us from the love of God.

Beloved, there's a hinderer. Paul calls him a hinderer. He's the devil himself. He said, I was hindered. He determined to go on a mission trip and he said, the enemy hindered me. And he said it twice.

I tried again, the enemy hindered me. And we're just dealing with surface issues if we really don't get to the point where we begin to understand that there's an active devil. We're not to fear him, but there is an enemy at work.

And if you just lay down, if you just let him roll over you and walk over you, you're going to just embrace your condition and never fight. You're going to settle down in some kind of pool of pain. You're going to sit down in a pit of despair.

And you say, well, this, this, this is what one man told me in a hospital. Well, these are the cards that were dealt to me. But you see that there is a hinderer. He comes first. I see this. And I've had an inner knowledge.

And I believe every man who walks with God, every teacher that truly walks with the Lord has an inner knowing that what is happening in the body of Christ today is far more intense. There are greater afflictions than any time in church history.

There are more people suffering more intensely. Hebrews 11 tells us that the church has always suffered great afflictions. But you see, we have a mad devil now knows for sure that his time is up. He knows that the coming of Jesus Christ is very near.

And we have a mad devil, and he's not going after his own. He's going after, he's going after the intercessors, first of all. Those who take the body of Christ to heart. Those who pray and fast for others and bear the burdens of others.

I have about, I'm not boasting, but I have about over half a million people on our mailing list. And many of them are in their late 80s and many in their 90s. They've been with me for 40 years. Many of them were saved in my meetings around the country.

And I get letters from intercessors. I got a letter last week from a 90, she'd written me about three months ago. And I was so moved by her letter, 91 years of intercession. She said, God called me when I was four years old to be a giver to people and to pray.

She was four years old. And after 59 operations between she and her husband. And through sufferings that are indescribable, this intercessor said, Pastor Dave. Lately, in the past year or so, in so many words, she said, I see something come at me I've never seen before.

So many afflictions that I've never seen among people. She's just a dear saint. And she said, I feel this opposition of the enemy coming at me. I said, you know something? She said, I know how to take back my ground from the enemy.

Praying in the Holy Spirit Against the Enemy

She said, I pray in the Holy Ghost. I pray in the Holy Ghost. Now, folks, we have a hinderer. T. Austin Sparks is one of my favorite preachers. He's now with the Lord. And he said, there are many things today that seem to be limited.

They're being held down and paralyzed by Satan. Many men of God and many people of God have not been able to function as they should. They're not able to fulfill their ministries because the hindering of Satan.

And he said, it's time for the church of Jesus to rise up and begin to pray in the Holy Spirit. And pray against the powers of darkness that he would be unseated from his throne. And God's people begin to take authority over the powers of the enemy.

Now, you and I are no match for the powers of hell. We're no match for the enemy. It comes against to abuse, to try to deceive and try to bring us down into despair and discouragement. But folks, Jude, I want to read this, if you will.

This is from Jude 2021. You beloved, build up yourself on your most holy faith. And then he says, keep yourself in the love of God. It's sandwiched in between those two statements. Let me read you the whole verse.

As Jude gave it to us. But you, beloved, build up yourself on your holy faith. Praying in the Holy Ghost. And keep yourself in the love of God. Praying in the Holy Ghost. That's two people. Pastor David, Sister Gwen.

Sitting on the edge of the bed with Gwen just enough strength to pull her legs to the side of the bed. And look at each other and say, no, this is enough. And say, let's begin to pray in the Spirit. Now, if you know how to pray a heavenly language, why are you ignoring it?

And if you have the Holy Ghost in you, why are you not honoring him as he should be honored? We have a tendency to totem pole the Trinity. We put God up here and Jesus in the middle and the Holy Ghost down here.

There are three unequal. See, God and the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost are of the same essence. All three individual personalities with one essence. And people are afraid to pray to the Holy Ghost.

They're afraid to worship the Holy Spirit. I worship the Holy Spirit every day. I thank him every day that he brought Christ to me. And gave me the revelation and it's ever renewed and ever coming. And as long as I live, I want the Holy Spirit to be at work in me.

I want to honor him and thank him. Not just for comforting me in my time of need, but because he's making me really know who my Father is in heaven. And he has his own ministry to direct. You can't fight this battle against the devil.

You can't fight this unless you are praying in the Holy Ghost. Now, you say, explain that. I can't give you some long theological explanation of that. But I know I'm praying in the Holy Spirit when I start worshiping Jesus beyond my own ability.

I know I'm praying in the Spirit when the burden of the Lord comes upon me. I know I'm praying in the Spirit when I'm giving him quality time. And I'm not counting the hours. I'm not there because I have to be there.

I'm there because the Holy Spirit is drawing me and I know who he is. The Bible says the world doesn't know him, but you know him. You know him. You know when he's knocking on the door. You know when he's telling you to do something.

You know when he's putting his finger on something. So you're walking in obedience and nothing the devil can bring up to you because you're walking in obedience before God. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.

God help us that many who know how to pray in heavenly language somehow just keep on neglecting the power, the authority of praying in heavenly language before him. The Bible said the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

The Holy Spirit Reveals Truth and Gives Life to the Word

The Spirit brings life to this word. And I've learned something in my latter years. I've learned something in walking more and more in the Spirit. I get calls. I get a lot of calls. A lot of letters from people I know, ministers I know, who are going through great troubles and said, would you just please call me and they'll leave a number and I call many of these.

But I call many that say my daughter doesn't know the Lord, but I think if you would call her because she read your book, and I'll call and I hear stories that are heart-rending, absolutely heart-rending.

So much so you think how much can you take of this? And I came to a place where I just can't give people scriptures. I tell people here's what the Bible says, all things work together for good to them who love God and who call according to purpose.

That's not good scripture to give somebody that's just going through hell because they don't understand it. And I begin to say, God, something's missing here. Something's missing. Because I don't really understand the word until the Holy Ghost reveals it to me.

I can't go into the depths of it. I can read it, but it becomes life to me. And I've made it a practice in this past year especially. When people ask for prayer, people tell me the burden. This is what I say.

I say, look, I can give you scripture. I can tell you what the Bible says. I can tell you what God says. But it's not going to mean anything to you unless the Holy Spirit reveals it. And I say, I want you to pray with me.

Now, folks, this is real to me. This is life. I've lived long enough to know when the Spirit is dealing with me in love and telling me how to act. And the Lord made it clear to me, David, you'll never get through to people.

In counseling, all of these calls you make, I ask these people, the question is, the Holy Spirit is the revealer of truth. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can make my words go from your head to your heart.

The Holy Spirit is the only one who can change you. I can't. And if I just quote you some Bible, it's not going to change you. You're going to say, well, I can't handle that. And so I've asked even those who don't know Christ, I said, will you pray right now?

The Bible says he'll give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Jesus to come into their heart. And you ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart and let you hear what I'm saying. And I ask him to pray that prayer, to give your heart to Jesus Christ.

And if they're a pastor, they're a believer, I said, will you do what we preach and what we believe? Will you ask right now? You pray that the Holy Ghost will come, the Holy Spirit will come upon my words, and I will pray with you in the Spirit, and God will make these words real to you.

And if you're going to counsel with somebody that you know is full of Holy Ghost, a pastor or a counselor, don't go in that room if you're a Christian until you pray Holy Ghost. Give me a word, but first, give me an understanding.

Holy Spirit, come, I believe you, make this word alive to me. Folks, we have to have the Holy Spirit. We have to have a revelation from the Holy Spirit. I knew a man who was called The Walking Bible. He could quote chapters, but his wife died and he got bitter against God because all the Scripture he learned, the Holy Spirit had not made it real to his heart.

God Rewards Those Who Diligently Seek Him

Secondly, here's the persuasion I want you to talk about. I am fully persuaded that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. My God is a rewarder. Hebrews 11 .6, but without faith it is impossible to please him.

Well, that's a strong word. Without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Glory to God. Do you believe God is a rewarder?

Let me tell you what the Scripture just read to you. Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Now, if you were in my library, you'll see row after row of books and many of them on faith. Big books. Theological books. We all try to understand it. We try to figure it out. It says without faith it's impossible to please him.

So I really want to know what faith is and how to believe so that I can truly please him and also that my prayers get through. I really want faith. I honestly thank God for the theological background of Calvin and so many books and commentaries I've read on faith.

For years and years I've studied faith. But you know, it finally comes down to one issue for me. I don't try to figure it out theologically anymore. I don't try to measure it. Do I have enough or am I wavering?

Honestly, it's come down to this for me. Faith is trusting God when I see no physical evidence that my prayer is being answered. There's no physical thing. Everything around, instead of things getting better, they're getting worse.

And faith comes down to this. I believe what God said. All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. Now that's a lie or that's the truth. Recently I was facing an issue.

No use. You don't need to know about it. I was facing a very tough decision and I took a walk and I said, what do I do? Holy Spirit, you're my teacher. You're my comfort. What are you doing? I expected some kind of direction.

The Lord said, you need patience. Having done the will of the Father, they might receive the promise. That's what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear what you were going to do, God says. You need a patience.

Some of you have lost your patience. I lost my patience. Now you go back and just face that with patience now. Don't get in a hurry. Don't put any deadlines on me. Don't corner me in. Wait. Patiently.

Faith Tested Through Family Suffering

Now I've just tramped on somebody's theology right now. I have two sons. Gary, who's now pastoring at a church in Colorado. And Greg. Many of you prayed for my son, Greg. Forgive me for being personal, but I don't know how best to illustrate this before I close.

He was in this church about five, six years ago. Back, I got a call. Greg needs you back in the program. I've told this story. I don't know if Greg's streaming in right now in Texas. He may hear me, but I ask permission to talk about this.

And I went back, and he was in Holy Ghost convulsions. He was just shaking. I said, Greg, what's going on? He said, Dad, I have such a burden for young people. I have such a burden to reach the lost young people.

He said, I'm just overwhelmed with it. I have this burden for God, for young people. My heart went out to him, and I prayed. And I said, oh, God, use him. Whatever it takes. Looking back, you know, whatever it takes.

Have you ever prayed that? I said, did you ever pray that? Lord, save my son, save my daughter, whatever it takes. If I have time on. My son went into a pain that's been indescribable for five years. Of living hellish pain.

Medication doesn't seem to touch. And I've watched over the years. You see, till that Joseph time came, the word of Lord tried him. And these verses will try you. Believe me, they'll try you. All things work together for good to them that love God.

And I'm talking to my son every week, maybe two or three times a week. And I ran out of scriptures. I ran out of counseling. Yet I was being tested on this. Do I really believe? How can this be? All things working out for good.

My wife went and cried all the tears she can cry over that. And yet when I listen to this boy, I hear revelation of Jesus Christ that I've never known. I hear of a depth that God is taking him. I can't explain all of that.

But I'm telling you now, I believe with everything in me. And no demon in hell is going to take this from me. I believe that God is at work. God is doing something beyond my comprehension, beyond his comprehension.

And I know that one day that boy is going to be shouting glory with me in heaven. And there's going to be victory. And somehow, in some way, in God's way, he's giving strength. And he's going to bring that boy to a place that he wanted to bring him.

That could not have been achieved any other way but through the flood and through the fire. I don't know what you're going through. Some of you are visiting, maybe your first time here in this church.

You're going through the test of your life. And everything around you conspires against the promise. It's like a conspiracy. But I can tell you, you have something Moses didn't have. You have something the children of Israel didn't have.

You have something Isaiah didn't have and hope to have. You have something nobody in the Old Testament had. You have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And God said in the last days, I am going to pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

The Promise of the Spirit for the Next Generation

I look at it, and I'm going to close now. I look at a generation that just seem to be doing this all the time with their fingers. I call it texting or something. My grandkids, I can't talk to them because they're going like this.

And I see all this media stuff. And I say, God, how do you reach this generation? How do you reach it? And I go to Acts. And this is my final persuasion. I am persuaded that God, when he said, I'm going to pour out my spirit in the last days.

And we're getting closer and closer and closer. And this next generation, this one that's all wrapped up in texting. Well, I'm getting on somebody else's toes right now. Not just kids, but everybody going around taking a lot of time doing it.

I'm not against that. You said, brother, if you're against everything. No, I'm not. My son, Gary, was preaching in Colorado the other day. He said, I got to tell you something about my dad. Every time he'd get a new car, we got a car.

He says, it's all going to burn. He said, I raised everything going to burn. Everything going to burn. I believe that this generation, God's always doing a new thing. And he's doing a new thing right now.

God is going to break in on this generation. And if all things are working together for good, God's doing something now working together. Even the economy works together for good. Everything works together for good to those who are called according to his purpose.

Not for the world in general, but for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Somehow he sees this through. Don't ask him how he's going to do it. He said, your sons and daughters are going to prophesy.

I believe just what he said. They're going to see visions. The old men are going to dream dreams. And on your servants and handmaidens, they're going to prophesy. You say, I can't believe that. In the flesh, I don't believe it either.

But I believe it in the scripture because these things are written. And God is faithful. And the closer we get. You remember in the Old Testament. I said, I'm going to close. Give me two minutes. That generation that the father said, oh, they wept and cried.

You brought us out here and our kids are going to die. There's no hope for our kids. It's all over. Those are the kids that went into the promised land. They didn't go back to the Red Sea and talk about the Red Sea.

They had their own Jordan that opened up. And they were bringing down walls. And they were killing giants. And they were outdoing their generation that they were raised under. And God says, I'm going to bring them in.

Folks, don't worry about your kids. God's going to bring them in. God's going to do things about your family. Hallelujah. Will you stand and open your Bible to Romans 8, please. The 8th chapter of Romans.

Romans 8: Nothing Separates Us from Christ's Love

This is how I'm closing. If you have a King James, some of you wonder why I talk about the Holy Ghost rather than Holy Spirit. I'm a King James reader. And that's what it says here. Romans, the 8th chapter.

And I want you to read with me from verse 35, 8th chapter. I'm going to pray. Will you pray the Holy Ghost to open this to us now? Holy Spirit, will you come now? In your own special way. And make this truth real to us.

This is not something I say. This is something you have said. Holy Spirit, you wrote these words. Now, make them life to us. And hope in these troubled times. Lord, make it real. Let us receive it now.

Beginning to read. Start in verse 35. If you have a King James, read it aloud with me, please. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ our Lord.

Thank God. Thank you, Jesus, for the Holy Word of God. Nothing shall separate us from the love of God. Nothing. No peril. No economy. Nothing will separate us from the love of God. You will care for your children.

Prayer for the Discouraged and Spiritually Oppressed

You will see us through the battles. Glory be to the holy name of Jesus. Glory to God. I want to pray this morning for those who are despondent and terribly discouraged. You came into this place. Maybe Times Square Church is your home.

I ask you to just step out of your seat. We're going to pray together in the spirit and believe that the Lord will help you take a stand against these spirits from the enemy. They are spirits and they have to be dealt with to rise up that the devil will flee from you.

These flaming darts that come from the enemy, he said, through lifting this shield of faith, you will quench all these fiery darts of the enemy. And some of you are being lied to by the devil. You simply are under the lying spirit of horrible thoughts that have been cast into your mind.

Up in the balcony, go to the steps on both sides and come down the aisle and we'll come pray with you. And in the annex, if you'll just stand there and raise your right hand and signify by that that you want prayer.

Those around you and those of us who are in this auditorium. If you don't know Christ in a personal manner, you have not made him the Lord of your life. We invite you to step out of your seat and come among friends and surrender to him right now and ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill your heart.

He said he comes, he's given to those who ask for him. Those who ask for the spirit receive the Holy Spirit. If you have turned your back on the Lord or if you have grown cold toward Christ, you're in this building now.

You're hearing my voice, but there's no fire in you. You're not where you know you want to be and should be. You're invited also to step out with these that are coming. This one course and I'll pray. Two or three agree together concerning anything on earth.

It shall be done to the father in heaven. And I believe that. Want you to believe that. And you that came forward, will you pray this prayer with me right now? Lord Jesus. Cleanse me. All my iniquities.

And I surrender my heart. And I'm asking you. To send the Holy Spirit. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. And Holy Spirit. I thank you. For doing the work. That God said you would do. Do it in me. Be my comforter.

Be my strength. And make Jesus real to my heart. Now, let me pray for you. Lord, I pray for those who've come discouraged and downhearted. That you will lift that spirit. And Lord, let us take a step of faith and say.

No. To this. Invasion of our thoughts. No. To just giving in and walking away. But saying I take my stand on the word of God. I take my stand on the promises of God. He said. He will keep him in perfect peace.

Whose mind is fixed on Christ. Who trust him. He will keep him. In perfect peace. Will you say that? He will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is fixed on the Lord. Because he trusts him. Say it. Because he trusts him.

Will you trust him right now? For deliverance and for peace of mind. I pray everyday. Holy Spirit give me peace. One day at a time. Just one day at a time. And next day it will be just as fresh.