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Receive the Holy Spirit
One Good Thing Leads to Another
by
Pastor John Hamel
“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos
was at Corinth, Paul having passed through
the upper coasts came to Ephesus:
and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy
Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as
heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said
unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And
they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul,
John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the
people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that
is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues
and prophesied.” (Acts19:1-6)
The Apostle Paul lived and pastored
God’s flock in a city called Ephesus
for two years. Paul, of course, was also used by the Holy Spirit to
write the majority of the New Testament. This should tell us that he
knew what he was talking about when it came to the things of God.
While pastoring in Ephesus, he came in contact with some of
John the Baptist’s disciples. They believed all John had preached
about Jesus the Messiah, but they had not yet heard the full Message of the
Gospel. They knew nothing about the Holy Spirit Who had come into the
Earth at “Pentecost” many years earlier. (Acts 2:1-5) They apparently
knew about the Good News of Jesus but they had not
heard the additional Good News. Paul explained there was another
experience after the salvation experience called the “Baptism with The Holy
Spirit.” They hadn’t heard of it. I’m sure Paul explained the
experience to them something like this.
Once you accept Jesus as your Savior by saying, “Jesus, You’re my choice” (Romans 10:13) you come back into a position of right standing with God. (2Corinthians 5:21) At that time you
receive a “measure” of the Holy Spirit’s power. I compare this to a
glass filled to the top with water. Now, because you are a vessel
cleansed by Jesus’ Blood, you qualify as a dwelling place for the Holy
Spirit in ALL of His “fullness”. This is when you really receive
power from God to live life victoriously.
I compare this subsequent experience to taking that glass filled with
water that I mentioned and dropping it down inside of a pitcher filled with
water. Now the glass is both FILLED and IMMERSED, or
“baptized” in the water.
This is what happens to the Born Again
Believer who receives the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. They become
both filled with and immersed in power. This is a Baptism of Power reserved only for Believers in
Jesus.
How about you? Have you said, “Jesus, You’re my choice”
in order to come back into union with Creator God? Because if you
have, you can now pray, “Father, fill me with the Holy Spirit and Power, in
Jesus’ Name.” This is an experience that will radically change your
life. You will receive power in prayer
that you never knew before.
Once you have asked the Father to fill you with the Holy Spirit
and Power read these Scriptures: Acts 2:1-4; Acts 10:1-44;
1Corinthans 14:1-40; Jude 20 and Isaiah 28:11. Being Born Again is a
good thing. But God wants you to know that one good thing always
leads to another. In this case it leads to the Baptism with the Holy
Spirit. It’s a gift just waiting to be received.
When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you'll know it because
you'll begin to worship God in an unusual language that you've never spoken
before. Those words will come right up out of your "belly"
(spirit) just like Jesus said in John 7:37. That is your new prayer
language called "Tongues."
I call it "A hotline to Heaven."
It's a language that Satan can't
understand so he can't interfere with it. It's a language that only
God can understand. (1 Corinthians 14:2,3; Romans 8:26-28)
By yielding your tongue to this supernatural prayer language,
God is actually praying through you. When God prays through you, it
NEVER goes unanswered. So yield yourself to this supernatural gift no
matter what kind of negative talk you've heard from others about this
God-given gift. People criticize the Baptism with the Holy Spirit as
evidenced by speaking with other tongues because they do not know what the
Bible teaches about it. They have simply been taught wrong. People who are down on speaking with
other Tongues simply are not up on the Bible.
You have now been properly taught. Give God your tongue
by yielding to this prayer language and you'll see things happen supernaturally that you had never even
considered before. Try it. You'll like it.
Check out some of our other teachings on the Holy Spirit at our
Faith
Building Bible Study Centre.
Then get under a Holy Spirit filled Pastor who has had this experience and
believes that … ONE GOOD THING LEADS TO ANOTHER!
Be Blessed ... John and Barbara Hamel
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