Weekly Motivational Stories for the marketplace Series 13 of 52 – School of the Holy Spirit Training Part 2 – Baptism in The Holy Spirit and Activation Prayers + Is Speaking in Tongues Biblical or Not? and 10 Things to Know About Speaking in Tongues
#SchoolOfTheHolySpirit #SecretPlace #BaptismInTheHolySpirit #SpeakingInTongues #WeeklyMotivationalSeries
Weekly Motivational Stories for the marketplace Series 13 of 52 – School of the Holy Spirit Training Part 2 – Baptism in The Holy Spirit and Activation Prayers + Is Speaking in Tongues Biblical or Not? and 10 Things to Know About Speaking in Tongues
Series: 13 of 52
Date: March 11, 2020
Listen via our Podcast Channel : https://anchor.fm/otakada.org/episodes/WEEKLY-MOTIVATIONAL-STORIES-FOR-THE-MARKETPLACE-SERIES-13-OF-52–SCHOOL-OF-THE-HOLY-SPIRIT-TRAINING-ecma6d
Blog Link – https://www.otakada.org/Weekly-Motivational-Stories-13-of-52
Introduction.
I welcome you to today’s series of Otakada.org Weekly Motivational Stories equipping Christians in The Marketplace.
At Otakada.org, we bring YOU over 2 million contents for All Round Success for your Spirit, Soul and your Body all in one place!
If you missed series 12 of 52, introducing the school of the spirit series, follow this link..
If you missed our Sunday post on the top 60 questions and answers about Salvation, follow this link..
Today, in part 2 of the school of the spirit series, we explore Baptism in The Holy Spirit and Activation Prayers + Is Speaking in Tongues Biblical or Not? With 10 Things to Know About Speaking in Tongues
Today’s series is for you if your answer is (yes) to any of the following question(s):
- Are you unable to witness to others about Jesus; Do you sense you have no rest within your spirit; Have you lost the joy of salvation and you are no longer motivated to serve beyond monetary or self-seeking motives? You are not sure of the specific gift for you or what specific purpose God has for your life Nehemiah 8:10, Romans 14:17
- Have you lost motivation and enthusiasm in studying, meditating and applying Gods word to your life daily? Joshua 1: Isaiah 40:30-32; Ephesians 4: 22-24; Romans 12:2
- Do you regularly worship and fellowship with other believers but have no alone time or secret place communion (Fellowship, dialogue) with the Holy Spirit? Mark 1:35; Matthew 14:23; Psalm 91:1; Matthew 6:6; John 15:7
- Have you been baptized in water but can’t recall asking the Holy Spirit to infill you so that you can know Him and serve Him better? Luke 11:11-13; Acts 1:4-8; Acts 8:12-17; Acts 10:44-46; Acts 11:15-16; Ephesians 5:18;
There is absolutely nothing that provides all-round motivation both in the spiritual life and the marketplace life like the presence, power and infilling of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. Also, in this series, have all your questions on the Holy Spirit answered via links it the last paragraph.
On the question of the secret place watch this Three minutes’ video from Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, speaks about his personal prayer practice of speaking in tongues, receiving ‘words of knowledge’ and prophecy, and why ‘charismatic’ shouldn’t be a tribal label, since every Christian has the Spirit.
Watch the full 32 minutes’ video from Justin Welby the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks about the evangelism and prayer initiative Thy Kingdom Come, speaking in tongues, Brexit, politics, being the leader of the Anglican Church, and how he deals with controversy surrounding LGBT issues below
Now, let’s begin 10 Things to Know about Speaking in Tongues
The spiritual gift of speaking in tongues remains controversial in our day and is a subject deserving of our close attention. This short article is not designed to argue that tongues are still valid but simply attempts to describe the nature and function of tongues speech.
#1: The “tongues” spoken on the Day of Pentecost were real human languages.
The variety of nations represented Acts 2 (vv. 8-11) would certainly confirm this. The word “language” Acts (vv. 6, 8) = dialekto = dialect (cf. Acts 1:19; 21:40; 22:2; 26:14). Can this phenomenon still occur today? Absolutely, yes.
Some insist that the tongues in Acts 2 were not human languages. Acts 2 describes not the hearing of one’s own language but the hearing in one’s own language. At the same moment that “other tongues” were spoken through the Holy Spirit, they were immediately translated by the same Holy Spirit into the many languages of the multitude (J. Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology, 2:215). Thus, there is both a miracle of “speech”—other, different, spiritual tongues—and a miracle of “understanding,” each facilitated by the Holy Spirit.
If this view is correct…
a miraculous charisma of the Holy Spirit (namely, the gift of interpretation) was given to every unbeliever present on the day of Pentecost. But it is Luke’s purpose “to associate the descent of the Spirit with the Spirit’s activity among the believers, not to postulate a miracle of the Spirit among those who were still unbelievers” (Carson, Showing the Spirit, 138). Or, as Max Turner puts it, surely Luke “would not wish to suggest that the apostolic band merely prattled incomprehensibly, while God worked the yet greater miracle of interpretation of tongues in the unbelievers” (The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts, 223).
#2: The gift of speaking in tongues can include “heavenly” dialects.
The gift of speaking in tongues that continues throughout church history and is so widespread today is the Spirit-prompted ability to pray and praise God in a heavenly dialect, possibly even an angelic language that is not related to anything spoken on earth such as German or Swahili or Mandarin or English. The Holy Spirit personally crafts or creates a special and unique language that enables a Christian to speak to God in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. This gift is not a human language that one might encounter in some foreign country, but a Spirit-empowered capacity to speak meaningful words that are only understood by our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (unless, of course, God provides the interpretation through the one speaking or through another believer.
#3: There is no evidence that tongues-speech in Acts 2 (or elsewhere) served an evangelistic purpose.
The content of tongues-speech was “the mighty deeds of God” (Acts 2:11; 10:46; 19:17). People don’t hear an evangelistic message but doxology or worship. So, again, how can tongues be evangelistic when the only two occurrences of tongues outside of Acts 2 (Acts 10 and 19) took place when only believers were present? Neither is tongues the invariable sign of Spirit-baptism or Spirit-filling. There are numerous instances in Acts of true conversion and Spirit-baptism where no tongues are mentioned (2:37-42; 8:26-40; 9:1-19; 13:44-52; 16:11-15; 16:25-34; 17:1-10a; 17:10b-15; 17:16-33; 18:1-11; 18:24-28).
#4: Speaking in tongues is prayer, praise, and self-edification.
Paul says that the one who speaks in a tongue “speaks not to men but to God” (1 Cor. 14:2). This means that tongues is a form of prayer. See especially 1 Cor. 14:14. Tongues is also a form of praise (1 Cor. 14:15) and a way in which we give thanks to God (1 Cor. 14:16-17).
Tongues is also a way in which we edify or strengthen ourselves. Paul writes, “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church” (1 Cor. 14:4). Self-edification is a good thing, as we are commanded edify ourselves in Jude 20: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God.” Self-edification is only bad if it is done as an end in itself. It is good to take whatever steps you can to edify yourself, to build up and strengthen your soul, so that you might be better able and equipped to build up others (see 1 Cor. 12:7).
#5: Interpreted tongues edify others in the same way prophecy does:
“Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up” (1 Cor. 14:5). Prophecy is to be preferred over uninterpreted tongues in the corporate gathering of the church because it is intelligible and thus can serve better than unintelligible tongues speech to build up, edify, and encourage the people of God. But this obtains only in the absence of an interpretation for tongues. If “someone interprets” (1 Cor. 14:5b), then tongues can also serve to strengthen and instruct God’s people.
#6: Tongues are a “sign for unbelievers”
What does Paul mean in 1 Cor. 14:21-25 that tongues are a “sign for unbelievers”? In 1 Cor. 14:21, Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11, the meaning of which is found in a prior warning of God to Israel in Deuteronomy 28:49. If Israel violates the covenant, God will chastise them by sending a foreign enemy, speaking a foreign tongue. Thus, confusing and confounding speech was a sign of God’s judgment against a rebellious people. This is the judgment that Isaiah says has come upon Israel in the 8th century BC when the Assyrians invaded and conquered the Jews (cf. also what happened in the 6th c. BC, Jer. 5:15).
The principle is this:
When God speaks to people in a language they cannot understand, it is a form of punishment for unbelief. It signifies his anger. Incomprehensible speech will not guide or instruct or lead to faith and repentance, but only confuse and destroy. Thus, if outsiders or unbelievers come in and you speak in a language they cannot understand, you will simply drive them away. You will be giving a “sign” to unbelievers that is entirely wrong, because their hardness of heart has not reached the point where they deserve that severe sign of judgment. So when you come together (1 Cor. 14:26), if anyone speaks in a tongue, be sure there is an interpretation (v. 27). Otherwise the tongue-speaker should be quiet in the church (v. 29). Prophecy, on the other hand, is a sign of God’s presence with believers (v. 22b), and so Paul encourages its use when unbelievers are present in order that they may see this sign and thereby come to Christian faith (vv. 24-25).
Therefore, Paul is not talking about the function of the gift of tongues in general, but only about the negative result of one particular abuse of tongues-speech (namely, its use without interpretation in the public assembly). So, do not permit uninterpreted tongues-speech in church, for in doing so, you run the risk of communicating a negative sign to people that will only drive them away.
#7: There are objections that need to be addressed:
One objection to the gift of tongues…is that nothing is of spiritual value unless it passes through the cerebral cortex of the brain and can be cognitively understood. Any notion that the Holy Spirit might engage with the human spirit directly, by-passing our cognitive thought processes, is anathema to most evangelicals. If it is to be spiritually profitable it must be intelligible.
But there is a vast difference between the necessity of intelligibility for the sake of the entire body of Christ, on the one hand, and whether or not a Christian can be edified and blessed and built up spiritually while speaking in uninterpreted tongues privately, on the other. Tongues in the corporate assembly must be intelligible or interpreted for the sake of others who are listening.
Profound spiritual fruit is possible in the life of the individual believer when he/she prays in tongues privately
When you pray in tongues in private, you are most certainly praising. The person who speaks in tongues is truly praying to God (14:14), praising or worshiping God (14:15b), and thanking God (14:16), all the while his/her “mind” is “unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14). By “unfruitful” he means either, “I don’t understand what I am saying,” or “other people don’t understand what I’m saying,” or perhaps both. Paul doesn’t understand what he is praying or how he is giving thanks or in what manner he is worshiping. But praying, praising, and giving thanks is most certainly taking place! And all this at the same time he lacks cognitive awareness of what is happening.
Many say: “Paul’s response to his mind being ‘unfruitful’ should be to stop speaking in tongues altogether. Shut it down. Forbid it.” But that isn’t Paul’s conclusion. No sooner does he say that his “mind is unfruitful” than he makes known his determined resolve: “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also” (1 Cor. 14:15). We know that Paul is referring to praying and singing in tongues because in the next verse he describes giving thanks with one’s spirit as unintelligible to those who may visit the church meeting.
Paul was not afraid of a trans-rational experience.
If Paul had been fearful of trans-rational experience (which, by the way, is far and away different from being irrational), would not his next step be to repudiate the use of tongues altogether, or at minimum to warn us of its dangers? At the very least we should expect Paul to say something to minimize its importance so as to render it trite, at least in comparison with other gifts. But he does no such thing.
Paul asks the question, in view of what has just been said in v. 14, “What is the outcome then?” (NASB; v. 15a), or “What am I to do?” (ESV). I know what many of you think he should do: “Put a stop to this ridiculous and useless practice of speaking in tongues. There is only one viable response; only one reasonable conclusion: I’ll never speak in tongues again since my understanding is unfruitful.” But that isn’t what he says. His response is found in v. 15. There we read that he is determined to do both! “I WILL pray with my spirit,” i.e., I will pray in tongues, and “I WILL pray with the mind also,” i.e., I will pray in Greek or the language of the people so that others who speak and understand the language can profit from what I say.” Clearly, Paul believed that a spiritual experience beyond the grasp of his mind, which is what I mean by “trans-rational”, was yet profoundly profitable. He believed that it wasn’t absolutely necessary for an experience to be rationally cognitive for it to be spiritually beneficial and glorifying to God.
#8: Paul preferred to exercise the gift of speaking in tongues in private.
If Paul speaks in tongues more frequently and fervently than anyone else, yet in church almost never does (preferring there to speak in a way all can understand), where does he speak in tongues? In what context would the affirmation of v. 18 (“I thank God I speak in tongues more than all of you”) take shape? Clearly, Paul exercised his remarkable gift in private, in the context of his personal, devotional intimacy with God. Again, the only grounds I can see for objecting to this scenario is the reluctance that many cessationists have for spiritual experiences that bypass or transcend the mind.
Logical, reasonable, highly-educated Paul prayed in tongues more than anyone else!
Let’s remember, this is the man who wrote Romans. This is the man whose incomparable mind and power of logical argumentation rendered helpless his theological opponents. This is the man who is known to history as the greatest theologian outside of Jesus himself. This is the man who took on and took out the philosophers in Athens (Acts 17)! Yes, logical, reasonable, highly-educated Paul prayed in tongues more than anyone! Paul not only believed in the spiritual value of praying in private in uninterpreted tongues, he also himself practiced it. In fact, he happily declares that he prays in private in uninterpreted and therefore unintelligible tongues more than all the tongue-happy Corinthians combined!
#9: Is it God’s will that every Christian speak in tongues?
Paul writes: “Now I want you all to speak in tongues” (1 Cor. 14:5a).
Those who say “No” appeal to 1 Cor. 7:7 where Paul uses identical language to what is found in 14:5. With regard to his own state of celibacy, Paul writes: “I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.” No one will argue that Paul intends for all Christians to remain single as he is. His “wish”, therefore, should not be taken as the expression of an unqualified and universal desire. Surely, then, we should not expect all to speak in tongues either.
Secondly, according to 1 Cor. 12:7-11, tongues, like the other gifts mentioned, is bestowed to individuals as the Holy Spirit wills. If Paul meant that “all” were to experience this gift, why did he employ the terminology of “to one is given . . . and to another . . . to another,” etc.? In other words, Paul seems to suggest that the Spirit sovereignly differentiates among Christians and distributes one or more gifts to this person and yet another, a different gift to this person and yet another gift to that one, and so on.
Paul implies that not all have the gift, but doesn’t imply that all cannot.
Then there is 1 Cor. 12:28-30 where Paul quite explicitly states that “all do not speak with tongues” any more than all are apostles or all are teachers or all have gifts of healings and so on. In Greek there is a grammatical structure that is designed to elicit a negative response to the question being asked. Paul employs it in 1 Cor. 12:29-30,
“All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?” (NASB)
Paul asks his question in such a way that he wants you to respond by saying, “No, of course not.” But what about other texts where Paul uses the “I want” or “I wish” terminology (1 Cor. 10:1a; 11:3; 12:1)? The same Greek verb is used in these texts that we find in 1 Cor. 14:5 (“I want” or “I wish”), and in all of them what the apostle wants applies equally and universally to every believer. Furthermore, in 1 Cor. 7 Paul tells us explicitly why his “wish” for universal celibacy cannot and should not be fulfilled. It is because “each has his own gift from God” (1 Cor. 7:7b). But in 1 Cor. 14 no such contextual clues are found that suggest Paul’s “wish” or “desire” for all to speak in tongues cannot be fulfilled.
The potential for every believer to pray in tongues in private devotion exists.
Some insist that 1 Cor. 12:7-11 and 12:28-30 refer to the gift of tongues in public ministry, whereas 1 Cor. 14:5 is describing the gift in private devotion. In 12:28 Paul specifically says he is describing what happens “in the church” or “in the assembly” (cf. 11:18; 14:19, 23, 28, 33, 35). Not everyone is gifted by the Spirit to speak in tongues during the corporate gathering of the church. But the potential does exist for every believer to pray in tongues in private.
Gift of Tongues v. Grace of Tongues
Jack Hayford argues that the gift of tongues is limited in distribution (1 Cor. 12:11,30), and its public exercise is to be closely governed (1 Cor. 14:27-28); while the grace of tongues is so broadly available that Paul wishes that all enjoyed its blessing (1 Cor. 14:5a), which includes distinctive communication with God (1 Cor. 14:2); edifying of the believer’s private life (1 Cor. 14:4); and worship and thanksgiving with beauty and propriety (1 Cor. 14:15-17) (The Beauty of Spiritual Language, 102-06). The difference between these operations of the Holy Spirit is that not every Christian has reason to expect he or she will necessarily exercise the public gift; while any Christian may expect and welcome the private grace of spiritual language in his or her personal time of prayer fellowship with God (1 Cor. 14:2), praiseful worship before God (1 Cor. 14:15-17), and intercessory prayer to God (Rom. 8:26-27).
Not every believer contributes to the body in the same way.
Thus, according to Hayford, Paul’s point at the end of 1 Corinthians 12 is that not every believer will contribute to the body in precisely the same way. Not everyone will minister a prophetic word, not everyone will teach, and so on. But whether or not everyone might pray privately in tongues is another matter, not in Paul’s purview until chapter 14.
“All are not prophets, are they?” (1 Cor. 12:29). No. But Paul is quick to say that the potential exists for “all” to prophesy (14:1, 31). Why could not the same be true for tongues? Couldn’t Paul be saying that whereas all do not speak in tongues as an expression of corporate, public ministry, it is possible that all may speak in tongues as an expression of private praise and prayer? Just as Paul’s rhetorical question in 12:29 is not designed to rule out the possibility that all may utter a prophetic word, so also his rhetorical question in 12:30 is not designed to exclude anyone from exercising tongues in their private devotional experience.
#10: Is tongues-speech an ecstatic experience?
The NT never uses this term to describe speaking in tongues. Many define “ecstatic” as a mental or emotional state in which the person is more or less oblivious to the external world. The individual is perceived as losing self-control, perhaps lapsing into a frenzied condition in which self-consciousness and the power for rational thinking are eclipsed. There is no indication anywhere in the Bible that people who speak in tongues lose self-control or become unaware of their surroundings. Paul insists that the one speaking in tongues can start and stop at will (1 Cor. 14:15-19; 14:27-28; 14:40; cf. 14:32). There is a vast difference between an experience being “ecstatic” and it being “emotional”. Tongues is often highly emotional and exhilarating, bringing peace, joy, etc., but that does not mean it is “ecstatic”.
Baptism in The Holy Spirit + Activation Prayers
Missing person: The Holy Spirit
Many people may have had an experience like that of the little girl who heard the Holy Ghost (as the Holy Spirit is sometimes called) mentioned in church from time to time, but so vaguely and infrequently she could only guess what sort of ghost this might be. So one day, when she ventured down into the dark furnace room in the church’s cellar, she decided with a child’s firm logic that this spooky place must be where the Holy Ghost lurked.
The fact is, adult believers often act as if the Holy Spirit really was hiding in the church cellar. They may know something about the Holy Spirit, but they don’t know Him personally or realize that He is God in the same way the Son and the Father are God. When they read the Bible, many people are surprised to find that the Holy Spirit was at the very dawn of time: “The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2), and many are amazed to find out there are approximately 100 references to the Holy Spirit throughout the Old and New Testaments.
Nevertheless, the Spirit’s role is fundamental both to creation and the life of the believer. When a person comes to Jesus Christ, he receives Christ into his heart. The Spirit of God comes and joins with the spirit of the believer. This “indwelling Spirit” reproduces the life of Jesus in the believer’s life.
What, Then, Is The Baptism In The Holy Spirit?
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an empowering for service that takes place in the life of the Christian (Acts 1:5,8). In it we are immersed in the Spirit’s life and power.
To illustrate, if we drank water from a glass, then the water would be inside us. However, if we went to the beach and stepped into the ocean, then we would be in the water. We receive, as it were, a drink of the Holy Spirit when we are saved, but when we are baptized in the Spirit, it is as if that initial drink becomes an ocean that completely surrounds us.
Just as the indwelling Spirit that Christians receive when they are saved reproduces the life of Jesus, so the outpoured, or baptizing, Spirit reproduces the ministry of Jesus, including miracles and healings.
Why Do We Need The Baptism In The Holy Spirit?
We need a power beyond ourselves for service and ministry in Christ’s Kingdom.
When Jesus gave the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), He knew that His disciples could not fulfill it in their own power. Therefore, He had a special gift in store for them: It was His plan to give them the same power that He had — the power of the Spirit of God. So, immediately after giving them the Great Commission, Jesus commanded his disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father promised, “which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5). He further promised: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The disciples waited in Jerusalem as Jesus had commanded, and one day when they were all together, “suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing winds, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (Acts 2:3,4). Then Peter explained to the crowd that gathered that they were seeing the working of God’s Spirit and told them about Jesus. The Christian church began that day with the disciples and the 3,000 people who joined them as a result of the day’s events.
We can undertake making disciples of all nations with some degree of success without the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but when we do, we are undertaking a supernatural task with limited power.
It is God’s will – it is His commandment – that we be baptized, or filled with the Holy Spirit: “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). The knowledge and reality of the empowering Spirit enables us to reproduce the works of Jesus.
When May I Receive The Baptism In The Holy Spirit?
It can take place at the moment you confess faith in Christ, as in the case of the first Gentile convert, Cornelius (Acts 10:44-46; Acts 11:15-16); but often it occurs some time after the salvation experience (Acts 8:12-17).
Is There Anything To Fear?
Some people fear that if they ask for the baptism in the Holy Spirit, what they experience won’t be the authentic working of the Spirit. But once they do ask for it, they are always glad they did. God doesn’t cause us to do anything we don’t want to, and all His gifts are good and perfect (James 1:17). Jesus said, “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will be? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:11-13). The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an even better gift than any material gift you could receive, and God wants you to have it because He loves you and wants the very best for you.
What Should I Do Before Asking?
The Bible says that a wise man counts the cost before he begins to build a tower (Luke 14:28). This beautiful experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a free gift, but you must be willing to submit fully to God to receive it.
Jesus will respond to a totally yielded vessel. He never asks anything of you that you are incapable of giving, nor does He ever fail to give you something greater in return when you do give your all. The joy He gives through total obedience to Him far outweighs anything you could possibly give up.
There is one more important consideration: In Acts 8, a man named Simon, deeply involved in the occult, wanted to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter sharply rebuked Simon, commanding him to repent. Therefore, if you ever at any time had anything to do with the occult (Ouija boards, fortune tellers, seances, horoscopes, ESP, transcendental mediation, hypnotism, or other such practices), you must renounce and turn away from all such sinful participation, and you must ask for God’s forgiveness and cleansing.
How Do I Receive the Baptism In The Holy Spirit?
You only have to do two things.
First, once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior you just have to ask God to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “Ask, and it shall be given to you” (Luke 11:9).
Second, believe you have in fact received this gift from God. The apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians, said, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?”
(Galatians 3:2). The answer, obviously, is faith. You have to believe that if you ask, you will receive.
Pray this prayer if you sincerely desire to receive the baptism in God’s Holy Spirit:
“Heavenly Father, at this moment I come to You. I thank You that Jesus saved me. I pray that the Holy Spirit might come upon me. Lord Jesus, baptize me now in the Holy Spirit. I receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit right now by faith in Your Word. May the anointing, the glory, and the power of God come upon me and into my life right now. May I be empowered for service from this day forward. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for baptizing me in Your Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Now, having asked and received, begin to practice the power of the Spirit. An ideal place to begin is where the first apostles did, praising God in a new language. To do this, begin praising God out loud in whatever words come to you. Tell Him how much you love Him. Thank Him, worship Him, and yield your voice to Him. Now let Him give you new words of praise you never heard before. Praise Him with those words, too. You’ll find that this can be a very rewarding experience of communication with God that will build up your faith. Continue to pray to God each day in the language that the Holy Spirit has given you.
But this “prayer language” is just one of the gifts that God wants to give you through the baptism in His Spirit.
The Gifts and Fruit of the Holy Spirit
The apostle Paul told the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit would manifest Himself among them in special gifts, of which speaking in tongues was only one: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware….To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the distinguishing of spirit, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues” (I Corinthians 12:1,8-10).
Paul also wrote that the Holy Spirit produces “fruit” in the lives of believers. These are virtues that demonstrate Jesus’ righteousness in the lives of His disciples: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22).
So, in asking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit you are availing yourself of these gifts for advancing God’s Kingdom and allowing the Holy Spirit to further cultivate in your life the fruit of righteousness – two great helps in living a life God can use mightily for His glory.
That’s the way it is with God. God is offering the baptism in the Holy Spirit to people who need only to reach out and receive it in order to be on fire to fully serve Him.
Walking in the Spirit
By now you can see that the Holy Spirit is so much more than a shadowy figure to pay lip-service to on Sunday morning. He can be with you and in your to bring new life to your Christian walk. Likewise, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is more than a single experience. It is a continual dependence on the Spirit for guidance and strength in all circumstances. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).
The baptism in the Holy Spirit cannot be earned. You cannot become “good enough” to receive it. It is a gift from God. It is not a “cure-all” for your problems. But the same wonderful power that enabled Jesus to open blind eyes, to command the elements of nature, and to live a life pleasing to the Father during His ministry on earth is also available to you. Ask, and it shall be given to you.
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Top links with question and answers on the Holy Spirit as follows:
Top Questions about Who The Holy Spirit is With Biblical Answers
Top Questions about Ministry of the Holy Spirit With Biblical Answers
Top Questions About The Fruit of Holy Spirit Is With Biblical Answers
Top Miscellaneous Questions about the Holy Spirit With Biblical Answers
Top Questions about Gifts of the Holy Spirit With Biblical Answers
Experience all round-success this week and beyond as You are led by your closest friend – The Holy Spirit!
Shalom!
Monday Ogwuojo Ogbe
e-discipleship at Otakada.org
+13022686313; +2348032835348; info@otakada.org
Originally posted on March 11, 2020 @ 10:36 am
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