The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Don Black John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Luke 3:16

he Bible teaches us that God is on His throne in Heaven and Jesus is at His right hand–so where is the Holy Spirit? Before we go any farther in this study of the baptism, let’s talk about who is the Holy Spirit.

He is the third member of the Trinity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Notice I used the word “He” to describe the Holy Spirit. He is not an “it,” a mysterious feeling, or a random experience. He is God. When we invite Jesus to come into our heart and save us, in the spiritual dimension what actually happens is the Holy Spirit enters us and transforms our human body into His holy temple. Jesus in His Kingdom body is at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. The Bible tells us that He is there making intercession for you and me to the Father. Not long ago, Benny Hinn gave me a wonderful description of the Holy Spirit: he said that the Spirit is Jesus without limitations. I asked Pastor Benny what possible limitations did Jesus have while He was on earth? The answer is simple, He was limited by the flesh. He could only be in one place at a time. But the Holy Spirit is everywhere at once. When we are saved what actually becomes born-again is our spirit. At that moment our spirit connects to the Holy Spirit and we become a new creature. In fact, it was the Holy Spirit that convicted you of sin, and provided you with the faith to call out to God to repent and ask for forgiveness. He is our constant companion and leads us into all truth. He, the Father, and Jesus are One. Without the Holy Spirit we would have no power to live a victorious Christian life.

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What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? John the Baptist prophesied that “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Luke 3:16 Jesus told His followers to go back to the Upper Room and wait. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Then at nine o’clock in the morning on the day of Pentecost, sometime near the year 31 AD, this promise was fulfilled: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, 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 all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” Acts 2:1 On that day God delivered the Church Age into this world. When the Holy Spirit fell on the believers they were transformed from individual followers of Jesus into Spirit powered members of His Church, the Body of Christ. The birth of the Church marked the beginning of the end for Satan.

“’And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; Even on My bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” Acts 2: 17-21

The world would never be the same. These are the final days of the end of this age. The Greek word used for baptism is baptizo, which means to be immersed into something else. Jesus is the one who covers us with His Holy Spirit. If you are a

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believer and have not received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, nothing stands in your way. Here are important facts to remember about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. • You have to be a Christian to receive this. • You need to have clean hands and a pure heart before the Lord. Confess and turn

away from any sin for which the Spirit is convicting you. • You must ask Jesus to baptize you. • Receive His filling by faith. • Worship God with all your heart. Thank Him! In the Bible when believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit they received a special language with which to pray. This is the language of Heaven, the dialect of angels. With this gift of a special prayer tongue we are able to communicate with God in a very powerful way.

“But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning’s too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:25-28

Do you need help for your weakness? When we pray in the Spirit, His Spirit intercedes in the Heavenly language. This is a very important benefit of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. This supernatural gift of communication by passes our mind’s ability to understand and releases the Spirit to prayer through us according to God’s will! Why would anyone not desire this wonderful connection with God? It is in context to praying in the Spirit that Paul promised “All thinks work together for good.” Why? Because he knew that when we pray according to God’s will, that request will be answered. Every Christian should seek the Baptism of The Holy Spirit. Without walking in the Spirit it is impossible to be the witness to your world as God designed for you to be.

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Use this prayer as a model to ask for the Baptism of the Spirit: "Jesus, I love you and want to have everything that you created for me. The Bible says you are the one who will baptize me in the Holy Spirit. Please show me right now anything that I am doing that stands in the way of our relationship. I repent and turn from it. I wash my hands from that sin. I ask for you to fill me with the Spirit. You said to ask and believe so I receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit now by faith. I love you Lord and thank you for giving me everything I need to live for you. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen!”

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