PRAYER-OF-SALVATION Blog

How do I receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the
Anointed One and His Anointing.

Last time we wrote briefly about salvation and specifically on the question of “If I sin, will I lose salvation?” We established that an of act sin does not cost us our salvation. Even though, you may have heard differently from someone else, the word of God clearly states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So even though you may have sinned since my last letter to you. Once again, confess your sins and move on.

Now let me pause for a moment and make something very clear, confession is not a license to sin. Even though most of us don’t need a license, we sin very well without one.(lol) As children of God, we should strive to be like our Father in heaven and live up to what Jesus continually says about us. Jesus presents us to God Almighty as being “holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He (Jesus) has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His (God Almighty) sight” (Colossians 1:21-22)

We also established in the Bible, God saying, “I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.” So you might say what’s the point in confessing if God is not going to remember? Sin means to miss the mark. It actually comes from ancient archery terminology. When an archer would shoot an arrow at a target, if he missed, he sinned. For us to sin means that we missed the mark or standard which God has set for us, and we have separated ourselves from God’s Word in some way. In other words we did something which is contrary to the Word of God. So, confession puts us back into right standing or back on the mark with God.

It is extremely important that you know the Word of God for yourself. Although preachers and teachers and prophets have clear purpose in the body of Christ and in the Kingdom of God, you need to know God’s word for yourself, and that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in.

The Holy Spirit knows everything, and everything that you need to know about anything, the Holy Spirit can tell you. The Holy Spirit is a Gift and the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus Christ to send a Comforter, a Helper. The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God, and once you tap into the Holy Spirit, you too will know what’s on God’s mind and what He has purposed for you in your life.

So, how do you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit? You need to do a number of things in order to receive this blessing. First, you need to be born again. I must assume that since you’re reading this letter that you have prayed the prayer of salvation and have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. If you are going to be filled with the Spirit you must have the indwelling Spirit and you must belong to Jesus Christ.

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Romans 8:9)

The second thing you have to do is ask. The Bible says, if we ask for the Holy Spirit, that prayer will be answered.

“…how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.” (Luke 11:13)

The third thing you must do is surrender.

“…present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

Fourth, if you want to be immersed in the Holy Spirit, you need to be prepared to obey the Spirit.

“And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:32)

Fifth, you need to believe. You have to believe the words of Christ, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24) You must have faith.

And finally, you have to exercise what God has given you. Having asked, having received, having been willing to obey, and having believed, you need to respond in a biblical fashion.

The Bible says those baptized with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost “began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4) This means they spoke the words that the Spirit gave them. The Holy spirit gave the words, but the apostles and disciples voluntarily responded. There was action based on faith, not merely passive acceptance of the blessing. That is the way it is with God. God is offering the baptism in the Holy spirit to people who need only to reach out and take it and then enjoy the blessing.

As we continue with these “lessons”, there may be things which are not clear to you right now. Do not despair. The Holy Spirit has a way of revealing to us exactly what we need at the time.

I am trying to keep these post short, since I don’t want your eyes to glaze over and you go to sleep. There is a lot more to say about the Holy Spirit and I pray that as we go forward the Holy Spirit will allow me to delve deeper.

I feel in my spirit that in our next, we must get to the subject of faith because all that we accomplish in Christ as born again Christians is based on faith beginning with our own salvation.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

Until next time, may the grace of God rest gently upon you and give you peace.

One of the frequent questions regarding salvation is, “If I sin,
will I lose salvation? The New King James version of Hebrews 6:4-6
reads as follows:

“For It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again
for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame”

An act of sin does not cost you your salvation. There are people who
teach that if you sin once after you have accepted Jesus, you must be saved
again. But this is not what the Bible teaches. Jesus died for our sins,
once and for all, and it’s a done deal. All we have to do is confess our
sins and move on. 1 John 1:9 reads thusly:

“If we confess our Sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

Furthermore, Jehovah (Jehovah is one of God’s names) is speaking in
Isaiah 43:25-26 and it reads:

“I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; Let us
contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.”

In other words our father, Jehovah, tells us to tell Him or confess
to Him what we did and then to forget about it. To confess, we
simply say something like this: “Father, I committed adultery and
it was wrong. Even though it felt good, I know it was wrong, because
You told me in Your commandment not to commit adultery. I sinned
against You. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

Now remember God tells us in 1 John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” And He doesn’t even remember our sins because
He says that “I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions for
My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
I’m sure glad God is not human. So, once you’ve confessed your sins,
the only one remembering them is you. So confess them and forget them.

Can you conceive of somebody adopting a child and then throwing it out
on the street because it falls while learning to walk? When we are
saved, we are adopted into the family of God. We must, out of love
on the one hand and godly fear on the other, seek to live a life that
is pleasing to God. But the idea that an act of sin would cause
someone to be thrown out of God’s family is not in the Bible.

There is a lot more that can be said on forgiveness, but I don’t want
to make this post too long. In my next post, if the Holy Spirit allows me,
I want to talk about receiving the Holy Spirit and the benefits thereof.
Once we’ve done that, then we really need to get into some talks on faith
and on prayer.

Hebrew 11:6 reads, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him.”

I don’t know about you, but I like the rewards, and so I
diligently seek Him and hopefully you will too, if you aren’t already.

Until next time, God bless you. May His Peace rest gently upon you.
Now, “Go and sin no more.” (Good luck with that)