Walter Beuttler delves into the activities of the Spirit, emphasizing the Spirit's personhood and unique essence as a real person without a body. He shares personal experiences and testimonies of how the Spirit of God intervenes in people's lives, providing guidance, assurance, and witness through various means such as utterances in tongues, interpretations, and prophetic messages. Beuttler highlights the importance of recognizing the Spirit's leading, restraint, and witness in our lives, showcasing the Spirit's omniscience and intimate involvement in guiding believers.

We are going to go particularly to the activities of the Spirit. I had said to you that the Spirit of God is a real person. I have mentioned that it has nothing to do with what is called in theology “corporeality,” that is, the possession of a material body. You and I are spirit beings and principally, spirit personalities. The bodies we presently have are simply our house, which someday, we will lay aside. We will be clothed with a new house, a resurrected body not subject to the laws of decay. Now the Spirit of God does not have a body. The Father does not have a body. I do not say they do not have a form, but their form is essence. This essence is spirit. Now there is one difference. From all eternity, Jesus Christ, also who we call the 2nd person of the Trinity, did not have a body, but today He has one, a glorified body. When Jesus took on a human body, a change took place in the God Head. The change was that Jesus, the 2nd member of the Trinity, who up to this time did not have a body, now has a body, just as we are going to have some day after the resurrection. But the Spirit has no body. I want to say, not by way of doctrine or proof, but by way of interest, and at the same time shedding some light on the subject. I went to Bible school in 1927. We had a teacher; in fact, he was the best-liked teacher, who came down with a serious illness. He was taken to the hospital. He never returned. The principal of the school was with him when he died. He said to him, “Brother Evans, please tell the students that the Holy Ghost is a real person. I see the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost as three persons on the throne. Please tell the students the Holy Spirit is a real person.” With those words, he passed away. We do not offer that as proof, because things like that cannot be offered as proof, but they do add a certain element of truth and light on a subject otherwise freely proven from the Word of God. As a person, the Holy Spirit not only knows as being a person, He is omniscient. In fact, He knows more than a person does. There was a girl in our school who was in very, very serious trouble. I do not want to mention what the problem was. Few people knew it. In fact, wife, myself and another party were the only ones that knew. That girl was in despair. In doctrine class, she sat there with her head down. She was in the depths of despondency. And she had reason to be despondent. You would agree if you knew what was wrong. I knew that she did not listen, and I did not blame her. In her condition, I would not be interested in doctrine either. Yet, as I was teaching, all of a sudden there came an utterance in tongues and interpretation. Now I knew what was wrong with the girl, and the interpretation was so clearly directed to that girl, without disclosing who was involved, because you could only know if you knew. The girl’s face changed. She looked up and listened for the rest of the class. After the class, she was among the last to leave the room and I sided up to her. As we walked up the hill, I sort of caught up with her and said, “Did the Lord ever help you.” She said, “Brother Beuttler, you will never know what that utterance meant to me.” The Spirit of God knew that this poor thing was sitting there in despair, and He sent a special word to her to lift up the head of her countenance, and she smiled again. The boy who interpreted the utterance said, “Brother Beuttler, it sounded like this was for somebody specific in class. Do you know anything?” I said, “I do, but that is all that I can tell you. Surely that was for someone in the class.” And that girl perked up. The Spirit came and under girded her so she could carry on and go through in spite of the very serious problem that she had on her hands. The Spirit of God knows, as He is a person. There are three activities, concerning the Holy Spirit. I may be able to finish only two, but then tomorrow night is another night. The Spirit of God is a person. I will use the Gospel of John 16:13 for a basis. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself (that is to say, on His own authority, on His own initiative); but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come.” John 16:13 Notice the activity of the Spirit. He will “guide;” He shall “hear;” He shall “speak;” He will “show” you. We have the personal activity of the Spirit of God doing the will of the Father in the hearts and lives of His people. You know, when I was a student in Bible school, I took to liking a girl, and she took to liking me. So a friendship developed, only a friendship though, still it kind of got stronger and stronger. And the Lord dealt with me. He negated it. No, He did not want that, but I wanted it. I was all-alone and was glad to have somebody to chum with a little bit. Yet the Lord kept dealing with me not to continue this friendship. Well, I would not listen. One day, she and I went to an evangelistic campaign. Smith Wigglesworth from England was the evangelist. Do some of you remember him? He was quite a character. If you came to him and complained about a stomach pain, he would take his fist and hit you in the stomach. That was one way to get rid of one pain, but you got another one. But he got results. He was speaking. The church had long pews that had room for at least a dozen people, I would say. She and I were sitting on one side, in a corner of the bench. That man stopped in the middle of his preaching and gave a message in tongues. When he gave that message in tongues, I knew instinctively (I just knew), the Spirit of God had something to say to me. I just knew. I also knew it had to do with her. You see, the Spirit knew. I was so scared that I slipped down the bench to the other side, and let the poor thing sit in the corner by herself. I was so scared at what was coming. He finished the utterance in tongues, then he interpreted it. That man told exactly what was going on in my heart. You would think he could look in and read every thought. He came out with it. And then he just let me know where I was. In the utterance, the Spirit of God called on me, not by name but I knew it was me, to discontinue this relationship, and follow the Lord with a single heart. Then he said, “This message is for a young man in this audience tonight whom God has called.” When I heard that, that did it. That finished the whole thing. The Spirit of God is a person, and He knows who is in the audience, so you better look out. I have seen people jump up right from their seats and run out when the Spirit of God does that. I saw a man jump up and make a confession for having stolen the church’s missionary money. He was a deacon. He came up and repented and asked the whole church to forgive him for his thievery. The man just got touched of God through the Word and gave himself up. The Spirit of God knows. Being a person, there are times when the Spirit of God witnesses. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:16 Here is something that is difficult to explain. You have to know some of these things before you can understand them. I know that I am saved. How do I know that I am saved? How do you know that you are saved? You say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, therefore I know that I am saved.” But how do you know it works? In the final analysis, I think you would say, “I don’t know how I know, I just know that I know.” Well, that assurance is the witness of the Spirit. The Lord had called me to the ministry, and the day came when I applied for credentials with the US Assemblies of God. They had a board of ministers on the credentials committee. There was one fellow on it that was real rough. He liked to rough up the candidates, and every candidate was afraid of him with his questions and his seeming cynicism. He was all right, but he had a rough way. I said, “Lord, when I get in there, do not let him ask me any questions.” Would you believe it, he was the first man who asked me the first question. He said, “I see here on your application that you claim to be called of God. How do you know?” Why, that was enough to scare the daylights out of a young fellow. I did not know what to answer so I said, “Brother, I don’t know how I know. All I know is that I know.” I thought with that, I will never get my papers. But one of the other men spoke up and said, “Brother Beuttler, that is what we like to hear.” He continued to say, “We get fellows in here who come with ambitions. ‘I will tell you brethren, behold I saw a sign in the sky. There were two letters that said GP, and that means, Go Preach.’” One brother said, “How do you know it does not mean, Go Plow?” Well, I got my papers with no problem whatsoever. “All I know is that I know.” That is the witness of the Spirit. The Lord has called me to go into all the world to teach. You know I have been doing that. That is what brings me to New Zealand. Even though the Lord spoke deep with me, I know apart from that. I could never doubt it. A thousand people could say, “We do not believe you, Beuttler.” I would say, “that does not make any difference. I still know.” That is the Spirit. He gives us the assurance of our personal relationship to God as children. “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will.” Hebrews 2:4 There is the witness of the Spirit by means of what we call the gifts of the Spirit. That would take in tongues, interpretations, prophecy, some of the other gifts of the Spirit of God. God, by means of the gifts of the Spirit, bears witness to His Word, to the truth. The kind of witness differs with the kind of ministry. You take an evangelist who ministers, let’s say in the Spirit. God bears witness to his ministry with healings, with miracles, with the casting out of spirits with great results. I am a teacher. Miracles, healings, baptisms and salvation are not the integral part of my ministry. In my case, the Spirit often bears witness by means of tongues, interpretation or prophecy to the truth spoken. The Spirit of God witnesses. He also witnesses on the inside where God’s people spontaneously know this is the truth, this is from God, I heard from God. All over the world, on occasions people have said, “Brother Beuttler, God spoke to my heart this day.” I do not know what He said, but He bore witness to their hearts what was said there was the word of the Lord to their hearts. That can be embarrassing to me. I was in France, for the first time in this particular church, and I spoke what the Lord laid on my heart. After the meeting the pastor said, “Brother Beuttler, I do not know what to do. I am going to have a problem.” I said, “Well what does that have to do with me?” He said, “You brought it about. You caused it.” I said, “How did that happen?” He said, “You spoke tonight as though you had been in our last business meeting. We have trouble in this church, and you spent all evening speaking on that condition. My problem is: How will I ever convince my people that nobody has told you anything about our church problem?” Well that is the Spirit. The Spirit of God knows. There are times when He comes along with tongues, interpretation or prophecy to verify the word because there are some in any congregation who will not believe. I was in a meeting and a lady stood up in front of me. I had just related a marvelous experience in relation to the presence of God, and she stood up and said out loud so everybody heard it, “That is a lot of bologna.” That night I said, “Sister, did you come for more bologna?” She said, “Yep.” She was an old, old lady. I think in her 80’s. She thought it was all bologna. The Spirit of God comes along and bears witness to the truth - He witnesses. Before I get finished this week, I just might perchance tell you some unusual things. I have them. Some of you may have difficulty believing it even though it is true, where the Spirit of God bears witness to your heart that this is indeed the word of the Lord. I was a lay teacher in Bible School. It was my first or second year, and I was teaching what is known in theology as the “kenosis” - That is to say, the ministry of Jesus. His miraculous ministry, the work He did, the people He healed, the word He spoke: the secret for all that, did not lie in His deity. In fact, His deity had nothing to do with it. He did not raise the dead because He was the Son of God. He did not heal the sick because He was the Son of God. Paul healed them, and he was not the Son of God. Elijah raised the dead and was not the Son of God. Anyhow, that is the doctrine, and I was teaching it. I knew there was a fellow there who was going to make trouble. I was the Dean of Men. I had to keep those fellows in line, and that’s a job for anybody. This fellow just did not like Beuttler. He was a rascal, and it was my job to un-rascal him. To un-rascal a rascal is quite a rascal job. I knew he would make trouble. He loved to put me on the spot in class. He would put his hand up to raise an argument, and if I did not recognize it, he would keep it up. A teacher is not obligated to recognize every hand. The Lord did not, but I usually did. This time I was afraid. He had studied to be a lawyer, and he was good with his tongue. That fellow could prove me wrong, even though I was right. He was so cleaver. I was afraid of him. Before I went to class, I stuck my head in the corner of my office in the school. I had my books under my arm. I said, “Father, you know how this boy loves me. (He knew what I meant) Now Father, you also know that this kenosis is correct doctrine, but I know, and You know, he is very likely to make trouble for me with it, put up his hand and start an argument. Father, You know that it is the truth. Will you please defend me when I go to class.” And so I went to class. I went along with my lesson. I just came toward the end of the kenosis. I expected his hand to go up at any moment. That was the signal that I was in trouble. But before he got a chance to put up his hand, the Spirit put up His hand, so to speak. One of the girls gave a beautiful utterance in tongues, and one of the fellows interpreted. I still remember the interpretation. I was so grateful, and it was short enough. “Behold the words which you have heard are true, and I the Lord, bear witness to the truth.” This came by means of tongues and interpretation. With those words, the Spirit of God fell on the class. Hands went up praising the Lord. After a little while, the bell rang meaning the end of the class. When I heard the bell ring, I knew I was safe. The Spirit of God bore witness to the truth. I think He must have cut the boy off before he got his hands up. This is what you have here - God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will. I love the Spirit. I owe the Spirit of God so much. You will find that out before we get done. I would like to point out to you that the Spirit also witnesses to us, by giving us a deep assurance. What we have in Acts is this: “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel to them.” Acts 16:10 If you have experiences in the way of the Spirit, and many of you doubtless do, you will have found there are times when He gives us a real assurance concerning a matter, an assurance in the heart that we know. One year I was getting an air ticket in Rome to go to Tunisia. I remember leaning over the desk watching the man write out the ticket, and deep within me (this is where our spirit is, and where the Holy Spirit lives), where the Spirit speaks, there was such a presence, such an assurance that I said to myself, “One thing I know, I am in the will of God going to Tunisia.” Very slowly, it subsided, but I knew that I was to go. This is a wonderful thing to know, especially if you get into difficulties. And I got into them. I was walking along a boulevard in the city of Tunis with my interpreter. I was feeling a glow of His presence, the conscience awareness of His presence? It was not strong, but noticeable. We were walking along when all of a sudden, this “presence” turned to a very strong alarm. This is the only way I can put it. It changed to such an inner alarm that it frightened me. Without knowing why, I jumped to my right. I took a big leap. The presence made me jump, and as I jumped, a young Arab brushed my left shoulder with his right shoulder with an open knife in his hand. From all appearance, he sneaked up behind and was going to use his knife on me for what purpose, I do not know, but the Spirit of God saw him. My companion observed him, gave me a warning, and I jumped away from the knife. Those were the days when the Algiers, the Arabs cut the throats of the Westerners, Frenchmen in particular, by the hundreds. This is true, you were not safe anywhere, and I had a few narrow escapes. And there the Spirit of God changed this inner presence into this warning, but in Rome, I had the witness, the assurance that I was in the will of God. So no matter what would have happened, I could have said, “I am in the will of God.” I do not know what I would do without the witness of the Spirit of God, and His assurance. One year I was going to Buenos Aires. I was just going to go on an Argentine Airlines flight. I went to the airport in New York. I had two suitcases in my hand, a cabin bag over my shoulder, and walked into the International Departure Hall. As I walked in, I got an increasing consciousness of the presence of the Spirit. It became so strong that I put my cases down and my bag, and stood there. I said, “Father, what is this?” The presence got stronger. I think it was the strongest I have ever experienced. Such a strong assurance, that I stood there midst hundreds of people milling about. I stood there, and remember saying in my heart, “One thing I know, I am in the center of the will of God, going to Argentina.” I said, “If I ever traveled in the will of God, this is it.” I knew it, and I stood there awhile. I did not know what else to do. Very gradually it subsided, so I picked up my bags, checked in and went on my way. It took quite awhile before this presence was gone. Again I said, “One thing I know, I am in the center of the will of God, come what may.” We arrived in Havana. I had never been there before. It was a refueling stop. The passengers got off and I thought, “I will walk out of the building and look around a bit.” So I browsed around and came back to the airport. There was a big commotion and I could not get through. I recognized a passenger and said, “Sir, are you on the Argentine flight?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “What is going on here?” He said, “Don’t you know?” I said, “No, what is happening?” He responded, “The Cubans, Castro is taking our plane from us.” Those were the days when Americans were stopped and slapped into jail for no reason whatsoever, except hostility toward everything American. “Castro is taking our plane from us.” I said, “What are we going to do?” “Nobody knows,” he answered. I was there awhile, and Castro’s soldiers: dirty, bearded, sloppy. In those days, beards were not the fashion. They were sloppy with submachine guns slung under their arms. Some had rifles. Some kind of an officer gave an order, and I was told what it means was that all the passengers from this plane were to line up single file. This did not sound good. We had to line up, one behind the other. Castro’s soldiers stood on this side, all with their submachine guns and automatic rifles, with facing each other. We were told one by one to walk down between these lines of soldiers. At the end was an officer examining each person. It did not look good. When my turn came, I was scared. My turn came and I walked down. These fellows looked me over and I came to this officer. He put up his hand to stop, and I stopped there. He had a submachine gun under his arm. I noticed his finger was on the trigger and when he pointed it, I could look right down that little black hole. Then I remembered the airport in New York where I said, “If ever I traveled in the will of God, this is the time.” I said to myself, “Beuttler, if he slaps you into jail, you are still in the will of God.” One thing I know, “I am in the will of God.” What a help that was! That was the purpose of the strong presence. It was so exceedingly strong because the Lord foresaw that a critical situation would arise and He wanted me to remember in Havana that I had a presence in New York, and was in the center of the will of God. This helped greatly. I am not saying that I was not scared, because I was, but I was confident that come what may, I was in the will of God. Well, he (the officer) waved me on. We got on our plane. After awhile, they gave us the plane back. There was quite a commotion over it. I sat by the window over the wing. While the plane was being loaded, these Cuban soldiers came climbing up on the wing, all over the plane. You know, you are not supposed to be up there. They had their rifles with them. One came right by the window next to me and looked in. I did not know whether I should smile. I was afraid to smile for fear he would think I was laughing at him, and he would shoot. They could have done it. They were a bunch of hoodlums. I was afraid to look scared for fear that would get him going, so I decided to give an intermediate expression, whatever that is. He looked at me, and I tried to look sort of nonchalant, but I was not. This is what he did, it seemed to be a cut across the throat. I got the signal. I did not want to smile, or look scared. I hardly knew how to look for fear that he would carry it out. Well, we finally got off, but believe you me, did I appreciate that presence of the Lord. I will never forget this experience. I have noticed that very often, when there is a strong presence, there is a reason for it, in what still lies ahead. The Lord works this in so many different ways. I was teaching in a camp meeting in the States. I was eating breakfast and the Lord, the Spirit, checked me. I was not to eat breakfast. In fact, I had some nice pancakes ordered. I had not seen them, but the waitress had fixed them just the way I wanted, extra butter, extra syrup, you know, what have you. Just as I was ready to start, the Spirit gave me a check. I knew what it meant. No. I said, “Lord, you are too late. The pancakes are already here. What will the waitress think if I do not eat them?” And I looked at them, and my wife said to me, “you are not supposed to eat this morning.” I said, “No, I’m not.” She said, “Then why do you look at these pancakes like that?” “Because I would like to eat them.” She encouraged me that I better go home and pray, and I spent time waiting on the Lord. In the meeting, there came a crisis while I was speaking, and I had to have an extra anointing from the Spirit to handle the crisis, without ruining the meeting in the process. I have noticed that often the strength of His presence, for which we cannot account, has some relationship to things yet to come. I would not want to say that it is always so, but it is so many times. The Spirit of God gives us, when necessary, a deep assurance. When I came home from overseas one year, a lady said to me, “Brother Beuttler, where were you on a certain day?” Well, I did not know, so I talked with wife, and we then remembered that was the time I was very sick overseas. I did not expect to see daybreak alive. Now I am not saying I was that bad, but I felt that bad. I said to this lady, “Why?” She said, “Brother Beuttler, at that time, the Lord awakened me by night and said to me, ‘Pray for Brother Beuttler.’ I thought he was in the Bible school somewhere, so I went back to sleep. Then the Lord awakened me a second time and said, “Pray for Brother Beuttler.” I thought that something must be wrong, so I got up and prayed, and the Lord gave a very heavy intercession for you. And then the intercession changed into a deep assurance that God had answered prayer and all was well. So I went back to sleep. That night overseas, I fell asleep so sick, but when I woke up in the morning, I was fine as fine could be. The Spirit gave to that lady the assurance that now all is well. You can multiply or apply this in a multitude of ways how the Spirit of God gives you that assurance. Now we will go into the area of His leading, as I am finished with the second one. The third one then is “speaking, how He speaks.” This we will leave for tomorrow night as I am not finished yet. As I speak to you in this manner, I believe that many of you have had experiences, and you can say in your heart, “O, that is what it was, now I understand.” This has happened many times. Many have had experiences and did not know what to make of it. Along comes some teaching, and, “now I understand.” A lady said to me, “Brother Beuttler, now I know.” I said, “Sister, what do you know?” She said, “Now I know.” I said, “Well, tell me what you know.” “Oh, you talked about the Lord waking us up. Time and again, someone called me by my name, Mary, in the middle of the night. I felt like I ought to pray, but I figured that’s my imagination, so I went back to bed. Now I know that was the Lord.” I said, “It sure sounds like it.” That is how we get help. We get to understand some of the experiences we have had and could not understand or know what to do with them. Now we are returning for an example to Acts. “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.” Acts 16:6 There was a great need in Asia. Incidentally, the need is not the call. They figured, well there are so many people that need the gospel, why not go and preach the gospel, but the Spirit forbade them to preach the Gospel there. You might wonder why. I do not know, but I think that one reason was that the people in Asia, at that time, were not ready for the Gospel, though they were ready some years later. You remember they had strong Churches there. I don’t think the people were ready for the Gospel, and the apostles’ ministry probably would have had very little results. Secondly there was a ripe field in Macedonia, grain so to speak, that needed to be reaped. The Lord had another type, another place of work for them at that time. But what we are interested in now is the forbidding. I do not know how the Spirit forbid them. We can conjecture. It could be that one of the group gave an utterance in the Spirit such as a prophetic utterance. That would be possible. The Spirit could also have spoken to them in a voice. I have had that. But the principle we are interested in is that in some way the Spirit of God negated their intended course of action. There are times when the Spirit of God stops us from doing a certain thing. Some years ago, I had scheduled a trip to the Far East that was taking me through the Middle East. For many years, I had wanted to stop in the city of Baghdad. I had never been there. I wanted to stop in the city of Baghdad to take a train down to Ur, the city of Abraham. This city is in ruins, but the ruins are still there. There is a train junction near the city of Ur where travelers can get off the train and take a side trip to visit the city of Ur, from which Abraham came. I also wanted to see the Tower of Babel, and the ruins of Babylon. I was so anxious to see those places and now I had my chance. I was going right in that direction and thought, “Here is a good opportunity to stop in Baghdad and visit Babylon, the Tower of Babel, (It is just a mound now), and also, the ruins of the city of Ur.” I had everything planned. Early one morning the Lord awakened me by His presence. But in that presence, there seemed to be a great disturbance, something wrong. I was frightened by it. I knew it was the Lord’s presence, but there was an element in it that alarmed me. I sat upright in bed and said, “Father, is anything wrong?” In letters this high, in front of me stood the word, Baghdad. Oh, so that’s what’s wrong? So, I eliminated Baghdad from my itinerary. I never got there. I cannot tell you why the Lord forbade me to stop in Baghdad because I do not know. It could very easily be that He knew that I would suffer harm; I could be hurt or killed. Whatever His reason, He forbade me to go to Baghdad. I did not ask Him why. God is under no obligation to give an explanation for His actions, and we better learn that. (Ironically) “Lord, why not?” That is an insult. I kind of squirmed a bit because I did not want to, but I eliminated Baghdad. I could say, “The Lord forbade me to go to Baghdad.” It is surprising how the Spirit works these things. I will give you another example. One year I was in the process of making up an itinerary. I was sure in my heart of my general route as far as Singapore: New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Hong Kong, over to Manila, down to Singapore. I had a map of the world before me, and I knew in my heart. In Singapore, I did not know where to go next. I knew I could cut down to Perth. Australia is always open. All I need to do is tell them I am coming and that is it. It is an open invitation all the time. I could go to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, and work up maybe through New Zealand, South Pacific. I could do that perhaps. Brisbane is always open, Brother Short is in Tauranga. I could also go straight ahead through Europe, on the way home. I was sitting there with this map in the presence of the Lord. I said, “Father, I just do not know which way to go after Singapore? Should I go south to Perth, work my way back through the South Pacific or go on?” There was no answer. So I just sat there. Do you know what it is to sit in His presence and wait? It is one of the great secrets. I would like to speak to you on that sometime. I sat there. Finally, I said again, “Father, I just do not know which way to go.” Suddenly, the Spirit of God spoke deep within me. There were words, not a thought or witness, but words. The words were, “I will meet you at the Pyramids.” I knew what He meant. Why would He say, “I will meet you at the Pyramids?” Well, for this reason. Before we had this disturbance in the Middle East, it was reasonably safe to go there. When I went on my way through, I like to stop in Cairo for a rest stop. You know, in this type of work, you need rest too. You need to be away from people. People will kill you if you let them. That is right, I will only die once, but I would like to do a little more work. So, I like to get off there. There is a hotel there by the Pyramids, a five minute walk or so to the Meina House. Nothing fancy, not luxurious, but satisfactory, $2-3 a night, air-conditioned. You do not get that anywhere, at least at that time. So my habit was to make a stop there, get some rest, walk out in the desert, and be all alone. Nobody coming after you with, “Brother, I have a problem.” There nobody comes to the hotel wanting a conference. There, you were safe. Nobody asks, “Where did Cain get his wife?” or “Who is the antichrist?” or what have you. So I knew what the Lord meant, “You go westward, I will meet you at the Pyramids.” So I arranged my itinerary to take me westward. Just to tell you what happened. I took an Air India flight from Singapore to Cairo, and we were letting down over the desert. The airport is out in the desert. Early in the morning, around 3:30, I saw the lights of Cairo come up in the distance. I could sense the plane was slowly letting down for the landing. I thought, “I wonder where He is going to meet me?” Opposite the Sphinx, there is a rest house, just about within a stone’s throw. You get coffee; you get the omnipresent Coke Cola. I think Coke Cola may be more omnipresent than the gospel. A thousand miles up the Amazon, you can get Coke Cola. In the remotest desert oasis, you get Coke Cola. I wish the Gospel would spread like that. I figured, “By 5:00 I will be in the hotel, take a stroll out, and go down to the rest house for a cup of coffee or something, and while I sit there looking over the Sphinx and the Pyramids, the Lord will draw near.” But that was not the way it worked. We were still letting down over the desert, when all of a sudden, there was a strong presence. He had come out to meet me. He could have waited until we landed. He had to come up in the air to meet me there. Shall I put it this way, “He and I rode in together.” What a lovely present, for the Spirit had said, “I will meet you at the Pyramids.” This is how the Spirit of God works and leads in our lives. I will give you an example of one more method. I went to France one year, and I have always said, “Lord, do not let me go, unless you go with me.” And the Lord spoke to me by His Spirit in the inner depths of my being. You may say, “He never talks to me.” If you will take time to be with Him, obey and the like, you would be surprised what there is, that we have never received. Well, this is what He said, “When you arrive, I will be waiting for you.” We got there the next morning and it rained, as we say in the States, cats and dogs. Everything came down from the sky. It just poured down. I got off the plane, stepped on the concrete (it looked like a lake full of water), and the presence was there, a strong enveloping presence of the Spirit. “When you arrive, I will be waiting for you.” This life in the Spirit is the life. And God has for us a huge area that many of us has never even touched. I will take about ten more minutes. In Acts 16:7: “After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit suffered them not.” Acts 16:7 This is in some way, a restraint by the Spirit of God. Explained simply that the Spirit permitted them not. I know there is such a thing as a restraint by the Spirit of God, an inner restraint where you intend to do something, or go somewhere, and you say, “I just feel within me I ought not to go.” It is a restraint, a lack of freedom, a holding back. I have had this many times in ministry over the years. Many, many times I would minister, let’s say in our school, and all of a sudden, I would get a restraint in my spirit, a holding back, for me not to go on speaking. When I discover it, I stop. Many a time I have said, “Students, someone here has an utterance from the Spirit.” And here it came. But first there was that restraint, that inner holding back. I had a round-the-world itinerary laid out one year, and included was Rangoon, Burma and Singapore. Next came Manila, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York. I had the whole thing laid out. Then I spread my map of the world before the Lord. I said, “Father, to the best of my knowledge, this is where I am to go. If anything is wrong, now is the time for You to let me know because after I am going to finalize things.” So I sat before the Lord with my map and let my eyes wonder from New York to someplace in Europe (I forget where), and right over to Beirut, Calcutta, Rangoon, and Burma. When I came to Rangoon, I felt a something in my spirit, a restraint, a something that, oh, this is so hard to explain. I just recognized here is something wrong, not a lack of freedom, a restraint from a freedom that gave me the assurance. I noticed it so I said, “Father, is anything wrong with Rangoon?” And I got some kind of a witness that Rangoon is out. I did not know why. I said, “Lord, I will take it out.” Then I came down to Singapore on the map. As I did, I had the same thing, a restraint in my spirit, a holding back, a hanging back, a pulling back like. I said, “Father, anything wrong with Singapore?” The same thing happened. I said, “All right, I will take Singapore out.” I could not understand what was wrong, but this is God’s business. So I said, “Father, now I have two weeks that I have to rearrange the itinerary. Where am I to go in place of Rangoon and Singapore?” The Lord bore me witness that I should go to Australia to Perth, to Melbourne, Sydney, and up to Manila. Now that was a huge detour, and it was expensive, but then, that is His business. So I did that. I wrote and got some letters back, “Very sorry you are not coming, we are very disappointed.” Finally I got a letter from Burma, “Dear Brother Beuttler, it is a very good thing that you canceled out Rangoon because the government has made a law that no foreigner is allowed to come into Burma, except for a period of 24 hours, and that all foreigners resident in Burma must leave the country. So we would have had to cancel the meetings with you anyhow.” The Spirit of God foresaw that. I got a letter from Singapore, “Brother Beuttler, it is a good thing we did not plan the seminar for Singapore. The US Assemblies of God had scheduled a conference in Manila for missionaries of the Pacific Area. They changed the conference to Singapore and put the conference into the very week in which we had you scheduled. We would have had to cancel you, if you had not done it on your own.” The Spirit of God knows. The Spirit of God restrains. The Spirit of God witnesses. The Spirit of God is a real person, and being a real person, He acts like a real person in many ways. Tomorrow night, we are going to consider some more of these ways including the leading of the Spirit of God, and the voice of the Spirit.