Mark Hankins Ministries

November 2020 -  Pass the Breaking Point

CHARGED UP

While traveling through the airport, I looked high and low for a place to charge my cell phone. I noticed a group of people gathered around a station where you could plug in any model of phone for a quick energy charge.  Even though my phone had 100,000 different sources of information on it, none of them were useful if my phone ran out of power.  So, I pressed in to get my phone plugged in!

It is the same with a Christian.  We have limitless possibilities in Christ, but none work if our spirits are not charged up.  There is a gauge on cell phones that shows how much power the battery has.  Wouldn’t it be great if Christians had a power gauge on their foreheads?  When the power is low, faith, love and joy begin to get weak.  Cell phones usually need to be charged up daily.  God is the only self-energizing Being and we have to be charged continuously with the power that comes from Him.  I love Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21.  This is a post-resurrection prayer every Christian should pray daily.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

 Recognize the Power on the Inside

Most prayers we pray have to do with the things outside us, but this prayer in Ephesians 3 has to do with the inner man. “...even though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day,” 2 Corinthians 4:16.  When I was in San Diego, I noticed many buildings had cables running along the outside from the top to the bottom, corner to corner. When I asked why, I found out that these buildings had been built without proper reinforcements to preserve them from damage during an earthquake. They had gone back with the cables to strengthen these structures so they wouldn’t collapse.

The first thing Paul prays in Ephesians 3 is for our spirits to be strengthened.   There must be a reinforcing of the Holy Spirit to keep us from collapsing during difficult times. The Philips translation puts Ephesians 3:16 this way, “…and I pray then that out of the glorious richness of his resources he will enable you to know the strength of the Spirit’s inner reinforcement….”

 Passing the Breaking Point

The Greek word “Parakletos” is translated Comforter and gives a wonderful description one of the functions of the Holy Spirit.  His activity is to comfort (parakalein in the Greek).  It means to exhort or urge and the example given is a general who exhorts his troops who are about to go into battle.  He rallies and cheers them to fight, to accept the risk of battle.  He will give a speech to urge others on and put courage into the faint-hearted.  He is one who makes a very ordinary man cope gallantly with a perilous and dangerous situation. It is the kind of comfort and consolation in distress which keeps a man on his feet, when, left to himself, he would collapse. It is the comfort which enables a man or woman to pass the breaking point and not to break. (William Barclay)

There are four ways we can strengthen or charge our spirits.  (1) PRAY IN THE SPIRIT.  When we pray in the Spirit, we are speaking to God and are edified, built up, or charged (Jude 20; 1 Corinthians 14:2).  (2) FEED ON THE WORD.  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Matthew 4:4; Romans 10:17).  (3) SPEAK THE WORD AND PRAISE GOD.  “Out of the mouths of babes and infants, you have established strength,” “perfected praise.” (Psalm 8:2; Matt. 21:16; Jeremiah 1:12, Joshua 1:8; Revelation 12:11) (4) SUPERNATURAL RELATIONSHIPS.  God has designed the body of Christ with “joints” and “ligaments” knit together for the supply of nourishment (Colossians 2:19; Hebrews 10:24,25)

Because of supernatural relationships and partnerships in Jesus’ ministry and in the early church great things were accomplished. Likewise, we thank God for you, our partners! Because of your financial and prayer support, lives are daily transformed by the Word received through books, television, the internet, social media and our MHM app.  Check out our new products on the insert included in this letter!  Ground is about to be broken for the new MHM Conference Center, which will host conferences and prayer.  Many who have been blessed from the Word distributed by MHM are contributing, and construction will soon begin! Many are giving $1,000 or any amount to help meet our remaining goal of $400,000. “And those who are taught the Word must share all good things with their teacher; a sharing of wealth takes place between them.” Galatians 6:6 (TPT).  This is our promise from Philippians 4:19: “My God shall supply all YOUR needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

 In Christ,

Mark and Trina

October 2010 - The Unlimited Language of the Holy Spirit

Tongues: The Unlimited Language of the Holy Spirit 

During World War II, there was tremendous fighting in the Pacific region against the Japanese who were taking nation after nation.  The U.S. troops suffered many casualties because their radio messages were being intercepted and deciphered by the enemy.  Military commanders searched for a perfect code that couldn’t be broken. It was discovered that Navajo soldiers spoke a “hidden language” only used in their families, which at that time had no alphabet or symbols and had never been written down.  So, Navajo men were trained and sent to the Pacific to use their language as the secret code that saved lives and won many battles.

One of the Japanese said, “What is that language? It sounds like they’re talking underwater.”  To them, it didn’t sound like much, but it was the language of the “Navajo Code Talkers” or “Windtalkers,” as they were called. Because the code talkers were so valuable, each one was assigned a Marine to protect them.  When U.S. soldiers were pinned down, the Navajo code talkers could send a message to activate military action in two minutes instead of what used to take hours! Their language identified the exact location of the enemy and enabled the Navy, Air Force, and Marines to target and destroy them.  These code talkers risked their lives to deliver their messages.   The Navajo code was vital to the victory in Saipan and every major battle in the Pacific. 

Speaking in Tongues, The Spirit Code

In the Church, there is a “Holy Spirit Code” vital to our victory in this world.  We are in a battle with the powers of darkness, a battle more intense than the battles fought in the Pacific region.  Lives and nations are being lost and we must have the help of the Holy Spirit now more than ever.  In Acts 2, God gave the Church a supernatural “code language” the devil could not break, called speaking with other tongues.   Since everything in this life happens by speaking, God gave us His language to speak supernaturally.  Believers not only worship in the Spirit, but they also speak out holy information, activate Heaven’s troops, and send reinforcements.  Just as the Navajo Code Talkers were protected by Marines, every believer has angels assigned to protect them.

We have access to all of Heaven’s resources through the blood of Jesus and the power and language of the Holy Spirit. This unlimited language gives unlimited access to all of the Holy Spirit’s resources.  The devil hates it when believers speak in tongues because mysteries are accessed and he cannot comprehend what is being said.  He tries to stop, confuse, and distract Christians to keep them from speaking divine secrets. In 1 Corinthians 14:2 the Apostle Paul writes, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit, he speaketh mysteries” (divine secrets).  Verse 18 goes on to say, “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.” Paul valued praying in tongues, and he wished all the Corinthians spoke with tongues (1 Corinthians 14:5)!

I call speaking with tongues “God’s head by-pass operation.”  Why would God want to by-pass your head? You should know the answer to that!  One reason is that you have “blockages” there, and your thinking needs to change.  Religion and the devil will fight you about speaking in tongues, but praying in the Spirit is a secret, hidden, and unlimited language of dominion and revelation connecting you to the mind of Christ.

Jude 20 says we build up ourselves on our most holy faith praying in the Spirit. It takes faith to speak in tongues, so your faith is strengthened.  The book of James says that the tongue is the most difficult member of your body to control and it influences your entire body, so if you yield it to the Holy Spirit, you will gain victory in every other area.  Many receive healing for their bodies when they are filled with the Holy Spirit! Receiving the Holy Spirit will take all your receiving to a whole new dimension. 

God desires to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think according to the power working in you as you are strengthened with His mighty power. (Ephesians 3:16,20).  Speaking in tongues will take your prayer life to another level, strengthen your spirit, and give you an advantage over Satan’s strategies.  You will win in areas where you were previously defeated.  You now have the “Access Code” of the Spirit to help you activate and fulfill the plan and purposes of God.

MHM Missions Report 

To help you study more on this powerful topic, for a gift of $25 or more we will send you our brand new set called, “Tongues: The Unlimited Language of the Holy Spirit” (4 CDs) along with “The Holy Spirit: My Best Friend” (4 CDs) and “The Holy Spirit: The Person and His Works” (3 CDs).

Your partnership in prayer and giving enabled us to distribute our books in Portuguese to pastors and leaders in Brazil in September. Thank you for sending us to Nepal in November, helping us to bring in pastors from remote regions and put our Nepalese books into their hands.  In December we will again be part of the powerful Colombia leadership meeting touching South and Central America. 

These are days of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit around the world. Together, we carry out the Great Commission!  My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

In Christ,

Mark and Trina Hankins