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BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
This article was posted on Monday, July 21, 2008
Acts 19:1-6.Paul arrived in Ephesus. There he found some disciples and he asked them. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance.” He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in JESUS.” In hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. John the Baptist told the people that Jesus will baptized them with Holy Ghost and fire.
True, when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit in us who will do the regenerating work so that we can walk in the Spirit of life. But baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire spoken in the New Testament especially in the book of Acts is something different. Acts 2: 1-4, it says they all received what seemed to be tongues of fire and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (Languages). So baptism in the Holy Spirit must come in a package. Every time a person is baptized with the Holy Spirit the person speaks in tongues just like what the Bible say.
In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 there are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. I will just mention this in passing because gifts of the Holy Spirit are very broad subject including the gifting for the ministry and service of the church.
But in the above Bible verses, the nine gifts are divided into 3 classes
A. Inspirational or Fellowship Gifts (The power to say)
1.the gift of tongues
2.the gift of interpretation
3.the gift of prophecy
B. Gifts of power (the power to do )
1. the gift of healing
2. the working of miracles
3. the gift of faith
C. Gifts of Revelation (The power to know).
1.Discerning of Spirits
2.The “Word of Knowledge”
3.The word of wisdom
I would like to say so
What is baptism with the Holy Spirit?
When you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your spirit came alive, began to assert its new life and take its original place as head over your soul- your psychological part (intellect, will and emotions)—and your body, your physical part. Your body and soul, however, were accustomed to “running the show” and it wasn’t long before they had pretty much overwhelmed your new life in the spirit, and resumed the driver’s seat. Wen you pray in the morning, the busyness of your soul and body is quieted; your spirit has a chance to let you know he is there; and at this, and other times, you get inkling that, deep inside you, the new life is very real. But as soon as the clamor of existence begins again, you automatically start to trust your soul and body rather than your spirit. You were accustomed to living by your thoughts, feelings, and desires—by your soul, your psychological being-and by the demands of your body that soon you lost track of the voice of the newly living spirit deep within you. It would seem that something needs to happen to your soul and body before your spirit can gain stronger control. This “something” that needs to happen is that the Holy Spirit Who is living in your spirit needs to flow out to fill your soul and body. This is called in the Scripture, “the baptism in the Holy Spirit,” because it is a baptism, meaning a drenching, an overflowing, a saturating of your soul and body with the Holy Spirit. “Baptize” in Greek means “ to completely suffuse”(overspread)- it is used in classical Greek of a sunken, water-logged ship- so it does not really make any difference whether Jesus immerses us in the Holy Spirit in an external sense of the word: whether He inundates from outside; or whether Jesus causes the Holy Spirit to rise and overflow from where He is living inside us, to suffuse your souls and bodies. Probably both pictures are true—He “comes upon us” both from outside and inside. But it is important to remember that the Holy Spirit is living in you, and that therefore it is from within that He can flood your soul and body.
Jesus said in John 7:38
“He that believes in me…. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (Holy Spirit) and the amplified Bible says: “out of his innermost being shall flow…” When we receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit comes in , but as we continue to trust and believe Jesus, the indwelling Spirit can pour out to inundate or baptize our soul and body and refresh the world around us. This again, in the Scripture the first normative evidence of this Pentecost experience is an outpouring: “they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other languages,” (Acts 2:4)
To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is a beautiful experience. My children received baptism in the Holy Spirit right after their water baptism. My daughter saw Jesus in her vision. Jesus was wearing His priestly robe with precious stones on His breastplate and the most glorious crown on His head. He was so glorious and majestic that she started to worship Him in tongues. My son was praying and worshiping HIM when suddenly they spoke in tongues. I suspected that because they just received CHRIST and their Sins all forgiven, they were as good as new creation. Then their baptism in water inundates their baptism with the HOLY SPIRIT as they long to have it and seek GOD in prayer to receive it.
My experience was not as glorious as that. I was praying hard to be baptize with the Spirit. I even complained to God that I have been serving Him for a long time and why wasn’t He baptizing me with the Holy Spirit. I very much desired to have the glorious HOLY SPIRIT baptism like what my daughter had. The Holy Spirit showed me what I had in my life that’s blocking me from experiencing it. Before, I believed in horoscope and was good at practicing and even reading the horoscope of others. I had a big book on Horoscope. I confessed that sin before him and burned all my books on horoscope. I was driving a corvette and would like to look good so I was taking diet pills and did not know that it has speed or Amphitamine in it so I flushed them all down the toilet. I went all over my 3-story house to take all what was not godly, music, books, wine, even not Christian- like clothes and destroyed them all. I renounced the power and the ill- effect of all those things I had and prayed to GOD to take it all out from my mind and heart and renew my whole being. Then I came to Jesus again and prayed for the baptism with the Holy Spirit and then I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. My timidity went away, and I became involved with so many ministries available at our church. I began to have very great compassion to the lost souls, therefore I found myself in intercession and evangelism mostly.
Yes, after I was baptized with the Holy Spirit I have never been the same.
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