Have You Received the Holy Spirit Since You Believed?

After His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they had been "clothed with power from on high"(Luke 24:49). Before His ascension He told them, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you"(Acts 1:8).

After the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter described the coming of the Holy Spirit a prophetic anointing and charismatic empowerment as described by the Prophet Joel. Did you know there are two baptisms? Jesus said,

For John baptized you with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  -Acts 1:5

This second experience is called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is the "promise of the Father" that Jesus spoke about. The Baptism in the Spirit is a separate experience that believers can and should experience after salvation.

Read what the Bible says about the believers in Samaria…

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they came down, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for still He had come on none of them. They were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.  –Acts 8:14-17

Notice that these people were without a doubt, saved and baptized but had not yet received the Holy Spirit… How? They received Him at new birth, but they had not yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit for the power and prophetic anointing to do God's work as the apostles were in Acts 2:1-4. That's why Peter and John came to them

When a person is baptized in the Holy Spirit, they speak in tongues as the initial evidence of this experience. That happened to the apostles in Acts 2:4,

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

We also see that in Acts 19:6,

When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied

And most convincingly, Acts 10:44-46.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word. All the believers of the circumcision who had come with Peter were astonished, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.

Notice that it was that these people were speaking in tongues that Peter and his companions knew the Spirit had come upon them. It was the initial evidence of the Spirit's Baptism.

When you get baptized in God's Spirit, you will be given the ability to speak to Him in a language that you do not understand as a sign that you have been anointed to speak the Gospel with supernatural power.

We are given this second blessing freely so that we may have power from God to be His witnesses, and live for Him. Do you want more power, more fervor, more fire in your walk with God? Seek the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Your spiritual life will go from black and white to color.

Your prayer time will go from routine prayers to daily communion and fellowship with God. Your devotions will go from just reading scriptures, to feeding on the Word, and hearing God speak to you from the Word. You will be filled and overwhelmed with that boldness you have always wanted to share your faith and live the difference amongst your peers.

I know this because that was my experience when I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is also the experience of countless others who have also received this second blessing.

Most importantly, I know this because Jesus promised in Acts 1:8 that we would receive power when Holy Spirit comes upon us. Do you want that? Are you hungry for that? Is something important and powerful missing from your walk with the Lord?

Ask God to fill you and baptize you in His Holy Spirit TODAY! It is His promise and free gift for you today. Just ask, and receive.

And when you ask, believe that you have received, and in faith, start speaking and praising God in the new language that He gives you. Go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit saints!

Under the Influence

Everyone says that first impressions are very important and that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to the world’s first impression of Christians.

In Acts chapter 2 we read about the Day of Pentecost; the “birthday” of the Church if you will, the first day of Christianity. On this powerful day, the first Christians were gathered together in an upper room praying. The wind blew, the fire fell, and then this happened.

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  -Acts 2:4

A crowd from different countries and different backgrounds gathered at the sound of this. They were bewildered at the fact that they each heard these Christians speaking in their own languages. Not everyone however, heard the first Christians speak in their native tongue.

“Some however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I have to say. These men are not drunk as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!’”  -Acts 2:13-15

Now Christians over the centuries have been mistaken for many things. But I think it’s interesting that the world’s first impression of the Church of Jesus Christ was that they were drunk…

Here is something I have noticed about people who like to get drunk; a lot of them do so because getting drunk makes them bold. It gives them that “liquid courage” to do what they have always wanted to do, and say what they have always wanted to say.

It’s a deceptive and destructive fantasy of course, but people for some reason feel they cannot truly be the person they have always wanted to be until they get under the influence of alcohol.

Now think about the Apostle Peter. Here is a man who on the night Jesus was arrested, denied that he knew the Lord three times. Then all of a sudden, he gets “under the influence” of the Holy Spirit, and is bold.

He speaks to the crowd, he commands a paralyzed man to stand up and walk (Acts 3:6), he tells off the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:5-20), and even his shadow brought healing to the sick (Acts 5:15). In other words, Peter had that “liquid courage”. He was under the influence, he was “drunk” on the “New Wine” of the Holy Spirit and could finally be that person that he always wanted to be, and Jesus knew that he always could be.

That’s the reason God tells us in Ephesians 5:18,

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

The Word of God says, “INSTEAD be filled with the Spirit” Instead of getting drunk, get filled with the Spirit. In other words, as an alternative. You want that boldness, that courage to come out of your shell, to not be afraid to share your faith with strangers, to live the difference in an unbelieving world, and be the person you have always wanted to be in Christ? Don’t get drunk on alcohol, get “under the influence” of the New Wine. Get filled with the Holy Spirit just like Peter and the others did in Acts 2:4.