Baptism Of The Holy Spirit
According to the New Testament, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience sent by Jesus Christ. As recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus describes it as “the Promise of the Father”, through which believers in Jesus Christ receive “power from on high” (Luke 24:49). According to the book of Acts, Jesus further referred to the baptism with the Holy Spirit as an experience through which his disciples would “receive power, after that the Holy Ghost was come upon them” (Acts 1:8). Among various Charismatic groups, interpretations differ as to what the baptism with the Holy Spirit means to practical Christian experience.Baptism is done with water, but the Bible talks about another baptism, much more important than the water ritual. This is the baptism of the Spirit, a teaching that was neglected for many years but has been given a renewed emphasis in many churches. This renewed interest in the Spirit’s work is something to rejoice over. Christians of past times knew that without the Spirit there is only the lifeless, mechanical performance of religious duties.If we have not the spirit,then we are doing by rote and doing under our own flawed ways.We are bound to fail.“Then after I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon (ALL) people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days, I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike.”
Joel 2:28-29 Matthew 3:11
Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.”
John 3:5
Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13
He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5
You cannot talk about the Spirit without speaking of spiritual gifts. While the Spirit himself is the gift to Christians, the Bible also (promises) that each of us is given a gift through the Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. God manifests the Spirit through each person for the good of the entire church.
We are “in Christ” and, therefore, have been made new. Christ now lives inside us (Gal. 2.20)
and has transformed us.
The Spirit of prophecy was an overall, general category brought over from the Old Testament
covering all activity of the Holy Spirit. These activities are usually seen in one or more of four
expressions:
1. Revelation given to a follower of Jesus
2. Wisdom administrated supernaturally by the Spirit
3. Expressions of power demonstrating the deliverance of God’s people
4. Spontaneous praise
“…as it is written:
‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God….
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-16
“And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” Luke 24:45
1Cr 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 1Cr 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 1Cr 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all 1Cr 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 1Cr 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 1Cr 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 1Cr 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 1Cr 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
What these verses say to me is that we are all given different gifts,different jobs if you will. We are not to condemn one another our particular gift or gifts,becasue we all have been given diverse gifts, our job our very revelations to our heart will be different than say another brother or sisters.
God verified the message by signs and wonders and various miracles and by giving gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose to do so.
Hebrews 2:4
Just love one another and let God decide which gifts he gives to whom. It is not our place to think we know the mind of God. Of course through much bible reading, and with the power of the Holy Spirit we can begin to understand the mind of God, but we will never know it fully. Many have been studying for more than 60 years, many even more than that, but all agree we are still all learning, all of us.
God Bless you all, and guide you on your walk in truth and knowledge.
Love in Christ Jesus ,PrayerWarrior/Tammy