An excellent spirit is faithful and consistent. It has a moral foundation that doesn’t fluctuate or compromise. It does what is right.
Andrew Wommack
There is a wooden chair displayed at the Andrew Wommack Ministries headquarters in Colorado Springs. This keepsake was used during Kathryn Kuhlman’s crusades decades ago. Andrew talks about his experience attending Ms. Kuhlman’s meetings as something that helped him break out of his religious background. He says, “I remember serving as an usher in her meetings. I saw some of the most astounding miracles I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Her message encouraged me to see beyond my limitations and to pursue the call of God on my life.”
Ms. Kuhlman had a tremendous impact on Andrew and countless others. But even a champion of faith like Ms. Kuhlman is only such because of God’s forgiveness and amazing grace. The following tells the story of how God brought her back from the brink and how He can do the same for us.
The sun was flickering through the great limbs that stretched out overhead. At the end of the block, I saw a street sign. It said simply, ‘Dead End.’ There was heartache, heartache so great it cannot be put into words. 1
Kathryn Kuhlman
How did Kathryn, a mighty woman of God, get here? She compromised her convictions. When Kathryn met Burroughs A. Waltrip, an evangelist from Austin, Texas, he was already married with two sons. However, she fell in love with him anyway. Opening her heart to a friend, Kathryn said, “I loved him more than I loved life itself.”2 Waltrip eventually divorced his wife, and on October 18, 1938, he and Kathryn were married at Radio Chapel in Mason City.3
It wasn’t long after when Kathryn began to realize the marriage was a mistake. She had to face the truth: she had compromised her integrity and her ministry. She was trying to get something but lost everything.
It’s not hard to identify with her regret. As we go through life, the cares of this world and our desire for things can take us down a wrong road. James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (English Standard Version). Our desires battle with our convictions, and if we are not careful, we start going down a path of compromise—a path that leads to a dead end.
In his teaching Excellence: How to Pursue an Excellent Spirit, Andrew explains, “Whatever you compromise to get or to keep . . . you’ll eventually lose.”
He also says, “God wants to help us in every area of our lives. He desires for each of us to experience the good things He has for us. But the only way to do that is to ‘seek first His kingdom,’ like Luke 12:31 says. We have to choose to do things God’s way.”
In a heartfelt confession, Kathryn said, “I had come to the place in my life where I was ready to give up everything.”4 Finally Kathryn cried, “Dear Jesus, I surrender all, I give it all to You.”5
Her life became like a grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died. But God resurrected her ministry, giving her a new beginning. Her ministry grew, and God performed countless miracles through her. She helped the body of Christ to understand the importance of a more intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit.
As Kathryn did, we need to receive God’s forgiveness and grace. If you find yourself at a dead end in some area of your life, there is hope! It doesn’t matter how you got there. You can become the kind of person who is humble and faithful, one who has an excellent spirit. As you learn to depend on God, you won’t go down the road of compromise, and you will find the way out of any dead-end road.
Order Andrew’s Excellence teaching or watch the Gospel Truth to learn more about having an excellent spirit and living without compromise.
1 Benny Hinn, Kathryn Kuhlman: Her Spiritual Legacy and Its Impact on My Life (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1998), 103.
2 Hinn, Kathryn Kuhlman, 102.
3 Hinn, Kathryn Kuhlman, 97-98.
4 Hinn, Kathryn Kuhlman, 103.
5 Hinn, Kathryn Kuhlman, 103.
