Baptized in the Spirit

Six of us sat around the dining table in my house last night talking about church membership at Faith Discovery Church.  As we reviewed our statement of faith we came to the part that defines us as a Pentecostal church, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What a privilege it was to talk about God’s promise of the Spirit, an experience that allows us to commune with Him – spirit to Spirit, to know His Presence.

After the Resurrection, Jesus directed His followers to wait! “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5, NLT)  They gathered to pray, not knowing exactly what He meant, but in obedience expecting that God would do as He said.  On the day of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost (50 days after Passover),  the Spirit fell! "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." (Acts 2:2-5, NIV)  The age of the Spirit dawned.  Filled with His powerful Presence, those ordinary men and women took the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth.

Their experience of the Spirit’s fullness was repeated as others were baptized in the Spirit. The book of the Acts tells of several occasions when the Spirit came on those seeking God. Paul told the Corinthians that he ‘spoke in tongues’ as the Spirit touched his life. He instructed them not to make the experience into a sideshow, but rather to enter into the intimacy with God that the Spirit’s baptism allowed.

The prayer language of the Spirit (nicknamed speaking in tongues) is a normal part of the Christian life today.  God’s gift has been misunderstood, misrepresented, and abused over the years.  Some have made the experience into a mark of super-spirituality. It is not! Others have made it an experience only for insiders. God promised His Spirit to all who ‘hunger and thirst.’ Many confuse the gift of tongues in a public worship service which must always be accompanied by the gift of interpretation so all can benefit with the private blessing of tongues, a prayer language, that needs no interpretation.  (1 Corinthians 14:26-28)  

Those first generation Christians accepted God’s gift of the Spirit and allowed Him to overflow. Enveloped in His Presence, they worshipped and prayed, often in tongues of men and angels. And, so can we.  We pray with words we know and we pray with expressions that flow from our spirit.  As part of his instructions for proper use of that prayer language in church gatherings, Paul teaches "Since you’re so eager to participate in what God is doing, why don’t you concentrate on doing what helps everyone in the church? So, when you pray in your private prayer language, don’t hoard the experience for yourself. Pray for the insight and ability to bring others into that intimacy. If I pray in tongues, my spirit prays but my mind lies fallow, and all that intelligence is wasted. So what’s the solution? The answer is simple enough. Do both. I should be spiritually free and expressive as I pray, but I should also be thoughtful and mindful as I pray. I should sing with my spirit, and sing with my mind." (1 Corinthians 14:12-15, The Message)

Want to know a more intimate prayer life? Do you hunger for a holiness of heart, to be empowered for service to God and others that flows out a life given to Him?  Invite the Lord to baptize you in His Spirit.  Yes, of course, if you are a Christian, the Spirit lives in you. That is the essence of the Christian life.  Being baptized in the Spirit is about God owning us – soul, mind, and spirit – so that we can live near to His heart.  Let Him fill you to overflowing.

"Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives." (Galatians 5:25, The Message)

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Lord, send the old time pow'r,

The Pentecostal pow'r.

Thy floodgates of blessing,

On us throw open wide.

Lord send the old time pow'r,

The Pentecostal pow'r,

That sinners be converted

And Thy name glorified!

Charlotte G. Homer

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