For those of you who DO feel like you’re experiencing the fullness of Christ in your life, maybe you surrendered fully to Jesus at salvation, when you were baptized— you immediately began living your life for Him… you immediately placed God as Lord of your everything… maybe you’re already hearing God, you’re walking step for step with Him… fully surrendered, a complete living sacrifice, and you’ve got fruit of intimacy with God.

This wasn’t the case for me.

Maybe because of the denominational focus, maybe because I didn’t believe it was real.

Maybe because I was only 13 years old, still a kid, still a lot to understand and I wasn’t ready for that part…

Maybe because I just missed it.

Whatever the reason, it is irrelevant and no longer matters.

I’ve been instructed by the Holy Spirit to tell whoever out there that’s looking for this about what I believe on this topic: the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament, the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit coming upon a person.

Because Jesus hadn’t come yet, the Old Testament people relied on another man, or a prophet, to communicate with God, or this Holy Spirit resting on him.

The Holy Spirit would come upon that person, to perform the task God was going to do, and then He would depart.

He would come and go, HE was the one making these incredible stories come to life for David, Gideon, Samuel… God did it all through people who were willing to be used by Him.

As the New Testament believers we have, because of the perfect and complete sacrifice of Jesus, the Holy Spirit in us, but we need the surrender, the complete filling… we need to be baptized as a second encounter— that of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 8:5-17, Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ. Many believed and were water baptized (vs. 5-12). When Peter and John went to check it out, they saw those who had been saved, and then laid hands on them to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (vs. 14-17).

Again, in Acts 19:1-6, Paul asked, “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.”

This proves three things… 1- you don’t have to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be truly saved, 2- it proves that there is a second experience God has for us, 3- now you can’t say you didn’t know that there is in fact a second experience. 😉

Jesus promises Him in John 14:16-17: ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another ^[c]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.

Also in John 16:7: ⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the ^[a]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you].

Jesus again telling the apostles to wait for Him in Acts 1:4-5: ⁴ And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.⁵ For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

And again in Acts 1:8: ⁸ But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

And John the Baptist had already prophesied about Jesus and how He would baptize us with the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3:11-12: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:¹² Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (WKJV)

The Message version of this verse is one of my favorites, it makes it so clear what happens when we receive the Holy Spirit… The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

Mic drop.

As if any further explanation is needed…

How does this work, practically?

To remove the “christianese” from it, the baptism of the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost just means with every cell of your body you willingly offer and give all of yourself, your mind, your thoughts, your desires, dreams and wishes and plans and hopes, your family and career and you lay them on the altar for refining in complete surrender to God.

You are no more your own, you desire and want God to guide and direct you, teach you, and your life is now for Christ in everything you do and say and everywhere you go.

He wants you to fully depend on Him and Him alone.

Picture this…

In Judges 6:34 of the amplified version, it says that ‘the Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon.’

Skip Heitzig explained it like a glove on a hand. We are the glove, and the Holy Spirit is the hand.

That glove cannot function at its fullest capacity without a hand wearing it.

The glove gets to go along for the ride, but the hand is the Source, guiding and directing everything the glove does, He Himself actually doing the work.

The glove has to be willing to allow the hand to enter it, to stretch and mold it a little.

The glove gets to go on the ride of its life. Better than it ever imagined life could be.

…

Transparently, I grew up with an opinion against this topic of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. That opinion however was based on the doctrine of man, religion, and denominational stances— what the churches that I had been in had taught— what I thought I knew… not because I had studied the Word of God for myself or asked God about the topic.

Here are a few wrong beliefs I had about it…

Wrong belief #1: “It’s not for everyone like lay people, it’s just for the pastors.”

Some pastors don’t even teach about this. Most of the ones I’ve met, anyway. But I learned through experience, and I’m not a pastor.

The Holy Spirit taught me, and I wasn’t at that time on a trajectory toward ministry, Bible college or anything at all like that…. I was and still am a nurse.

We need the filling of the Holy Spirit just for walking out everyday life. As mamas. As wives. As employees. As business owners. As government officials. As arts and education leaders.

Just because you may not have a call to ministry does not mean that God does not intimately care about you and your life.

He’s the one that created you.

Called you.

Knit you together in your mother’s womb.

He’s the one that chose you.

What else or who else could help you live out your life other than the One True God of the Universe who knew every one of your days before it ever came to be?

Who knows you better than Him?

Who loves you better than Him?

No one.

God is Mighty. He’s Limitless in what He can do with a surrendered glove.

Wrong Belief # 2: “It’s no longer for us today, this was only for the apostles in the New Testament.”

If this were true, then everything else in the New Testament would also have passed away with the apostles.

I didn’t believe this about John 3:16…

I didn’t understand — nor did others live like this or seem to teach about it, so I just dismissed it.

Here’s a thought: So, the apostles then needed the power from God to start the ekklesia, but we don’t need His empowering to maintain it? That’s illogical.

Wrong Belief #3: “It appeared to be some kind of spiritual overtaking that others couldn’t control.”

The surrender to the Holy Spirit is a gift to be chosen and received by the believer in Christ. It’s essential for you to live out God’s original plan for your life. You cannot do it on your own.

But if for some reason you decide to not open the gift, refuse to acknowledge it, let what others have exemplified taint your opinion more than the truth of the infallible Word of God, then you’ll still be in heaven with Jesus.

You’re still loved of God. You’re still chosen.

God’s going to let you choose, everytime.

Just like God didn’t force you to receive His Son Jesus, He won’t force you to do anything else for that matter, He gives you the free will to choose.

Deuteronomy 30:19: I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live²⁰ And may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Wrong Belief #4: “It seems emotional and distracting.”

Part of this was my immaturity, in not being able to keep my focus on Jesus during church instead of those around me, and the other part was that there really is a dramatic example by some people in some churches.

When the Holy Spirit touches you, overwhelms you, heals you, deals with you in anyway, it will create emotions— it is the power of God upon man.

And if you haven’t seen or experienced that for yourself, then, maybe you should wonder why…

On the other hand, we can control those emotions, and some of it has just been exemplified in extremes.

And, just because your mom or dad or grandmother or papa or boyfriend or sister didn’t believe this truth, doesn’t mean you can’t.

It’s YOUR walk with God.

I used to be told, “who’s coat tails are you thinking your riding to heaven on?”

I’ll humbly ask you, too.

It’s your heart and relationship with God that saves you.

Yours alone.

We must push all of these things aside. When you go to church, close your eyes and stare at Jesus’ face instead of those around you.

Sing for Him instead of the people beside you.

Focus on Him.

Let other people walk their walk and you walk yours.

Let the Word of God be true, and every man a liar, Romans 3:4.

Wrong Belief #5: “I’ll have to give up everything I love to lay it all down.”

First of all, who loves your spouse more, you, or God? What about your kids? What about you? Do you think the God of abundance doesn’t care about your family? These are lies.

God is a good God, and He has called you to be mama, wife, daddy, because He blessed you with their souls to train up.

And I’d challenge you friend, that everything you think you love right now, through the filter of the God of the universe, is nothing, I mean NOTHING compared to the goodness that God has for YOU.

His plan for your life will not only first and foremost glorify the Father, but it brings YOU hope and prospers YOU, He’s awesome and perfect like that.

Think on it. Ask God about it. Remove the denominational filter from your heart, and read the scriptures about it.

…

Real life applied for me was this… I had found myself in a place of frustration…

Not understanding why I wasn’t seeing the same things the Bible stories show…

Frustrated with my walk with Jesus…

Frustrated seeing Christians that looked and acted and did things no differently than unbelievers, and sometimes worse…

I wanted to know God more, experience Him more, and I just didn’t know what to do.

I learned in a real life way that it’s one thing to receive salvation…

But it’s another thing to surrender your life and will and whole being to the Holy Spirit.

Jesus should Lord over our lives.

We have to step aside… get out of our own way.

We have to make way for the King.

Otherwise, we do whatever we want without consulting God, and we call ourselves followers of Jesus…for what?

We absolutely cannot do this life without Him empowering us.

We have to be willing to cash it all in and willingly crawl up onto the altar.

It’s no matter of cost, or sacrifice. 

It’s a wake up call…

A call to lay down the good life we have planned out for ourselves, only in order to pick up the abundant life that Jesus has for us instead.

The better than.

The abundance that’s better than we could ever think, ask or imagine. 

Not only for us, but for our spouses, our kids, our families and generations to follow.

Our friends and relationships and people around us.

Ask God to peel back the scales to allow your spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear the voice of God.

Salvation saved me. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit empowered me to live for Christ.