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You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. You know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. |
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Seek God Home
Return to the Message Topic Index Be Filled On May 31, 1999 the Lord gave me a dream that impacted my life and it may impact you also. In the dream my wife and I were in a very large room near the entrance, in the room were many people all seated at long dining tables. I knew that the people were Christians from a certain denomination, which I will not name at this time. There was nothing on the tables, but the people were all busy talking to each other causing a loud clamor in the room. I felt boldness rise up in me which I recognized as the Holy Spirit moving me to proclaim a question to the people. I acted in obedience, stood up, and with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, loudly asked the people, "WHO WANTS TO BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT?" Most of the people responded by raising their hands immediately. My wife and I then went around to the people laying hands on, and praying for them, and all of the people who wanted to be were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Some of the people also gave me testimonies about what great things that the Lord had done in their lives. An interesting point here is that this denomination does not fully accept the idea of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance. But the Lord showed me that they were seated at the dinning tables because they were hungry, hungry for more of God, hungry for a deeper relationship with their Lord, and hungry for the presence of God to impact their lives in a glorious way. Jesus says in (Luke 11:13) "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" The Lord also showed me that when I stood up and asked the question to the people it caused their focus to shift from each other, and talking about people and things on the earth, to God. Since we are all a part of Christ’s body our unity is in Him. Only when we focus on Jesus as the head, will we then find our unity with the other members of His body. The greater our focus on Jesus the less we will be able to see denominational barriers and differences. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit several years ago but only recently am I beginning understand and make use of this very awesome gift from God. I was raised in a church that believes in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so I knew of, and had heard about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking with other tongues, as the Spirit gives utterance. (Mark 16:17) "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; At a time in my life when I was seeking a greater relationship with the Lord I began to feel that He wanted me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. One weekend every time I would open my Bible it seemed to fall open to a scripture passage that was confirming what I felt in my heart. I became convinced that the Lord was speaking to me about this. I went to church Sunday morning, and then in the afternoon felt the Lord again calling me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I decided that I would ask to be prayed for at the Sunday night service so that I might receive this gift. I was very shy and scared to go up to the altar to ask for this prayer in front of other people. So all of Sunday afternoon I prayed that God would give me the courage to be able to go up to the altar after the service and ask to be prayed for. I went to the service that night and the first thing the pastor said was; "Tonight I am going to be speaking on the baptism of the Holy Spirit." That was all I needed to hear and all that I can remember hearing. It was the final confirmation that God was speaking to me about this. I sat on the edge of my seat the rest of the service waiting for the end so I could go up and be prayed for. When the pastor invited those who wanted to receive to come up for prayer I was the first one at the altar. But I was the last to receive. I had two prayer warrior men praying for me fervently. Time went by, people were putting things away and closing up the building, and most people went home. But I was still there with one prayer warrior on each side of me praying heaven down on me. I was waiting for God to come down, knock me on the ground, grab my tongue, and force it to speak a new language. But that didn’t happen. I had so many signs before now that I was to receive this gift that I was determined not to leave without it. I told the Lord that, "Even if I have to stay here all night, I am not leaving until you fill me." Soon after that I began to speak a new language which sounded oriental, like Chinese I thought. I did not have any great feeling or sense of God’s presence at that time. When I left I was a little disappointed, and was even questioning if it was for real. Looking back I now know that it was one of those times in my life that the Lord was teaching me to walk by faith. As I went home that night doubt entered in and I began to really question if it was real and if was really from God. I had listened to preachers before on the radio teaching that this was not from God, or that it was only for the early church. Some people would go so far as to say that it was from the devil, which I consider to be a very dangerous statement. When the Pharisees accused Jesus of doing miracles with the power of Satan He told them in (Mat 12:31) "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Just as God’s promises are for every generation so too we also have religious Pharisees in every generation trying to keep us from greater relationship with God. I began analyzing the gift of tongues in my own life. First of all I realized that it is definitely a language being spoken by my mouth. I can not with my mind imitate it, or even come close to trying to fake a language that sounds so real. I speak faster than I can speak English. I also often do things that I can not do without God’s help, such as roll my tongue the way some German words are spoken. The language never comes from my mind, it comes out of my heart as I yield my tongue to the Holy Spirit. But I always have control, I can begin speaking it anytime, I can stop anytime, I control the volume. The Holy Spirit is so gentle and discreet, giving total freedom, always quietly persuading, but never forcing. (2 Cor 3:17) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So I became convinced that I am definitely speaking some language supernaturally. So the next question is do I know for sure that this is from God. Since there are only two sources of supernatural power I began to analyze the fruits of this gift. First of all I have the promise from God’s word that if I ask for the Holy Spirit He will not give me a snake instead. I also noticed that while I am speaking in this language I feel free and clean from mind-clutter and thoughts of temptation, and I have a sense of moving into Holy ground. When I am speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance I am more sensitive to the things of God, and much less focused on the things of this world. Another change that happened in me since receiving this gift from God is that I have boldness to witness and share the gospel more than I ever had before. (Acts 4:31) And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. I did not feel any different but I came to realize that I was able to witness without fear whereas before I had been shy about expressing my faith. Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit so that they would have power to be His witnesses. (Acts 1:8) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." After being baptized in the Holy Spirit I began to realize that I had much greater depth of understanding of God’s Word, the Holy Bible. When reading the Bible it seems so personally relevant to me, it feeds my spirit and brings life to my soul. (John 6:63) "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. Reading one scripture reminds me of other verses and I see greater revelations of how all the Bible relates to Jesus the Christ. Through the years of listening to pastors and Bible teachers I notice a great difference in the revelation knowledge and depth of insight in "Spirit filled people". The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. (Eph 1:17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Revelation knowledge penetrates right to the heart of man, it is the Word of God with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Even Satan can quote scriptures but it is the Holy Spirit that makes God’s Word relevant in Love to the receiver. It was several years ago that I had the experience of receiving the gift of tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. But I have to admit that until more recently I have taken this gift for granted, as I believe many others are also. I am now coming to realize how precious is this gift that God makes available to all believers. Because of God’s promises in His Word, and my personal experiences I have no doubt that praying in the Spirit, in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, strengthens my relationship in the Lord. When I pray in the Spirit I go from fear into faith, anger into love, anxiety into peace, depression into joy, temptation into triumph, and my focus shifts from the world to Jesus, setting me free from the cares of this world. (Jude 1:20-21) But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, {21} keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. We build up our most holy faith praying in the Spirit because we are speaking God’s words, in God’s will. Of course we can pray anointed prayers in our natural language also, but praying in the Spirit in the Bible seems to mean praying in tongues, we need to do both. (1 Cor 14:14-15) For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. {15} What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. The word used for pray in this verse is the Greek word proseuchomai, it means to pray to God, and it also means to worship. So when we are speaking in tongues we are praying and worshiping God in Spirit and Truth. I do not know all the reasons God has us pray in a language we do not understand. But I am sure that it is for our benefit because that is the kind of God we serve. It may be that if we understood what we are praying for sometimes it may be more than we could bear, and may cause us to focus on those things instead of Jesus. Praying in the Spirit allows us to pray the most powerful prayers in God’s will, while still maintaining the child like faith in God that we need so that we can live in the proper relationship with Him. I have been praying in the Spirit more often now that I have come into a greater understanding of this precious gift from God. One Thursday night I went outside and spent some time praying in the Spirit, looking up at the stars, just spending some time with God. I had noticed earlier that one of our phone lines was dead, but I was not too concerned because we had four other lines that were still working they all come into our home because we also operate our business from there. The next day, Friday morning, I called the Phone Company to report the dead phone line. That day we had a normal but busy day working, we are totally dependent upon our phones to carry on our business. Just after 5:00 PM when we were done with work for the day all the phone lines went dead at once. I was not too concerned because the repairman was already scheduled to come the next day, Saturday morning, to fix the first line that was dead; also we would not need the phones until Monday for business again. Saturday morning the phone repairman came and told me that a construction crew had cut the line Thursday. When I told him that we still had four lines working all day Friday he said, "I can not understand that because the cable had been cut in-half". When he told me that the Lord instantly reminded me of praying in the Spirit Thursday evening. I believe that I was praying for the phones to work even though I did not know it. I later confirmed with my neighbor who is on the same phone cable that his phone had been dead from Thursday evening until Saturday when it was repaired. Somehow God had miraculously given us phone service for a whole business day while the cable was cut in-half. When we are praying in the Spirit we are praying God’s will directly and proclaiming it upon the earth. The only offensive spiritual weapon we have is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Our other spiritual armor is defensive. When we are praying in the Holy Spirit with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance then we are speaking the words of God through our mouth. (Eph 6:17-18) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; {18} praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Praying in the Spirit allows us to pray about future events that we will be facing without the anxiety that we would have if we knew what we were about to face. Praying in the Spirit also causes us to pray for things that may be for our benefit or for the benefit of others, even if it is something that we would not want to pray for. Another reason that the Lord gives the gift of praying in the Spirit in tongues is because the tongue is the most difficult part of our body to put under the control of the Spirit. Only when we are filled with the Spirit will even our tongue become subject to the Spirit. (James 3:2) We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. Only with the help of God can we bring our tongue under the control of the Holy Spirit. (James 3:8) But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. The tongue sets the course for the whole body. (James 3:4-5) Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. {5} Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. Our tongue is our most powerful possession. (Prov 18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Jesus teaches that our words come out from our heart. (Luke 6:45) "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit it is out of the abundance of the Spirit in our heart that our mouth speaks. (John 7:38-39) "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." {39} But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate gift from salvation. (Acts 19:1-6) And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples {2} he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." {3} And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." {4} Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." {5} When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. {6} And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. When someone is baptized in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit seems to transfer from being with the believer to being in the believer. So someone can know the influence of the Holy Spirit without being baptized in the Holy Spirit, the Old Testament saints had that kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit without being filled. What a precious gift this is that is offered to us who are in the new covenant. (John 14:16-17) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- {17} the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. The Holy Spirit will be with us forever; He is our source of communication from God and our unity with Him for eternity. I am totally convinced without any doubt that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is for now and it is for all that want a closer walk with God. (Acts 2:38-39) Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." To be baptized in the Holy Spirit just ask for this gift from God the Father in the name of Jesus. (Luke 11:13) "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" Jesus is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist taught, (Mark 1:8) "I indeed baptized you with water, but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Always seek the giver more than the gifts, but the Holy Spirit is a gift in which we receive the gift and the giver. (John 16:13-15) But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. {14} He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. {15} All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. In the book of Acts people received the baptism of the Holy spirit through prayer and waiting on God, through the laying on of hands, and by even listening to the Word and receiving it. (Acts 10:44-47) While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. {45} The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. {46} For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, {47} "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." The most important attitude for being filled with the Holy Spirit is the desire for more of God in you. (Mat 5:3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The word poor means to be a spiritual beggar. The poor in spirit recognize their need for more of God; they hunger and thirst for Him more than they do for food and water. (Isa 44:3) For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; (Acts 2:38-39) Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." (John 20:21-22) Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." {22} And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
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