Baptism of the Holy Spirit
One of the least understood principles of scripture is the infilling and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many miss the greater blessing of experiencing God because they believe that salvation is the baptism and what you get is all there is. This is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible does teach that we receive the Holy Spirit at the moment we surrender our hearts to Christ (1 John 3:9, Romans 8:9-10, 1 Corinthians 6:19). God puts His Spirit within us and we are born as a child of God. However, this is not the end, but the beginning. Let me explain what I mean by digging in to this topic in scripture. Begin by looking at John 20:
20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
When did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit?
This scene took place after Jesus rose from the dead. The disciples were gathered in a hiding place out of fear of being persecuted. They have heard rumors that Jesus was alive and some were claiming to have seen Jesus. Jesus suddenly appeared bodily before them and His disciples were indwelled by the Holy Spirit by His command. It is without question that this passage clearly says that they received the Holy Spirit, but the real power was to come later. It would not be until the day of Pentecost that the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon them and these fearful disciples would turn the world upside down for Christ. They believed on Jesus, received the gift of salvation and were sealed by the Holy Spirit, but the baptism of the Spirit would not come until 40 days later while they prayed in the upper room. Then, suddenly these fearful men hiding from their persecutors came out proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ before the very people they feared moments before. They received the gift of the Holy Spirit right here in John 20, but Jesus also said, “you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5).
When were the disciples baptized with the Holy Spirit?
It is because people do
not understand that there is a difference between these two events that they do
not seek the greater power of God that will completely transform their lives
and ministries.
What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
Like all the things of
God, satan tries to make a counterfeit and to draw us away from the truth.
There is a false ‘baptism’ and the true baptism of the Holy Spirit. Every
person who truly repents and invites Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior
receives the Holy Spirit. 1 John 3 calls this God’s seed and teaches that this
is when we are born of God, His seed remains in us. The Bible again says that
when we are born of God, He is in us and He has given us His Spirit (1 John
4:13). However, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a completely separate event.
When someone becomes a Christian, there should be a change because we have a
new focus and a new life. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, it is
equally if not more life-changing because we receive the power of God for His
service. A false baptism will not yield fruit. Many claim to be filled weekly, but
if there is no desire to serve God and there is no fruit, is this from God? If
we are truly receiving the power from the Holy Spirit, it will point us to
service and truth. Look at these two passages from John:
John
4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth."
John
16:
13 "However, when He, the Spirit of
truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His
own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things
to come.
14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take
of what is Mine and declare it to you.
Can we have spiritual
worship without truth?
Does the Holy Spirit
bring glory to Himself, or Jesus Christ?
To worship God, we must
be focused on the spiritual things of God and it must be founded upon truth.
God will never allow you to worship Him and compromise the unchanging truth of
His word. Yet there are people who gladly compromise the truth to get a
‘worshipful experience’. If you have to let go of truth, you are not embracing
God, but the spirit of deception. There is no way around it. You can’t worship
God outside of the truth He has revealed in scripture.
When Jesus foretold of
the power of the Holy Spirit, He also gave important truths as to what we can
expect. The Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Spirit will guide you into
truth. The Spirit will point you to Christ. The Spirit will glorify Christ.
There may be a lot of emotions, but my will and my fulfillment is not the
purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit. The purpose is to glorify Jesus Christ
and to testify to His truth and His authority. My call to service is to glorify
Christ and proclaim the truth of God’s holy word. If you look at any example of
baptism in the Spirit in the Bible, you see an immediate focus on outreach and
proclaiming the Word of God. When someone is filled by the Spirit, they will
recognize that this blessing is not for them alone, but to equip and empower
them to do God’s will. The apostles were filled and immediately had the power
to preach and the boldness to stand before their enemies and proclaim the good
news of Jesus Christ.
Is there a false
‘filling’?
What will the focus be
on?
A false filling is
nothing more than a counterfeit. It may have some resemblance to the real
thing, but falls short when examined in the light of scripture. Satan’s
deception looks good from a distance but is worthless in reality. A counterfeit
may look good, but it is easily identified when compared to the true original.
Therefore, satan does not want any focus to be put on truth. Satan is enraged
when someone compares what he is doing to the word of God, therefore, those
under the deception will reject those who try to compare the false baptism to
the scripture. If someone gets angry when the light of the scriptures reveal
the counterfeit, they are not being led by the Spirit of God, but are blinded
by the spirit of deception. An emotional high is not the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. God’s Spirit within us may create a lot of emotions, but feelings are
never the focus. The focus is always on God’s will and His will always produces
fruit. If a person is not producing fruit, they are not filled. When God is in
control of our lives, we will always desire to do His will. Each time we see
the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, the immediate response is to go
out and do. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, it is life changing and
ministry empowering. It is never centered around us, but is always centered
around Jesus Christ. The focus is always directed toward bringing people to
Christ. An emotional experience does little to create any lasting change in a
person’s life.
What happens to our lives
when God is in control?
I grew up without any
knowledge of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I was taught that I was filled
at the moment of salvation and I assumed that this was true. I did not
recognize that Jesus gave His disciples the Holy Spirit and then promised that
they would later be baptized by the Holy Spirit. I also did not understand Jesus’
words of Luke 11:13 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him!" In error I believed that this passage meant
salvation. I accepted Christ as my Savior around the age of thirteen and saw an
immediate change in my life. I was going down the wrong path and getting
involved with the wrong friends but that changed as soon as I received Christ.
I still had many things wrong in my life, but there was a dramatic change.
However, my life had no power. I thought this was all I should expect.
A couple of decades
later, I had tried to keep the faith, but in frustration I all but gave up. I
quit attending church and lost all hope of living a ‘good Christian life’. I
assumed that just had to accept my faults. I allowed my ‘flesh’ to direct my
life until one day realized that I hated what I had become. I did not have
control of any area of my life. I finally realized that my own ways had let me
down and what I once thought was meaningful suddenly seemed worthless. I began
to seek God like never before. I didn’t plan it, but for the next three days, I
spent time in prayer and seeking for an answer from God. I was determined not
to quit until God answered. I was clueless and didn’t even know what to pray
for or even what I wanted, but I continued to pray anyway. I spent the first
two days sorting through the trash in my life and begging God to take control
and change me. I knew that my control had brought me nothing but despair. I
prayed, and prayed and prayed. It seemed like I was making no progress, but
this hunger in my soul kept driving me to go back to pray for an answer. I
didn’t know how, but I was certain that God was the only real hope.
On the third day, God did
answer. I will never accurately put into words what happened that day. It was
as if the floodgate of heaven opened up and poured through me. The chains that
bound my mind fell like shackles and I felt like God filled every part of my
mind and soul. It was as if scriptures previously unknown raced through me and
I felt as though they were now a part of me. When I went home, I got a
concordance and looked up the scriptures that I suddenly understood. I felt
like I needed confirmation that all I experienced was truly of God. If it were
truly of God, it would be in His word. I found every passage almost verbatim in
the Bible even though I did not remember studying these in the past. During
this encounter with God, the entire world disappeared, time stood still and all
I could see and experience was the power of God. I walked away a free man.
Everything that haunted me now seemed like a trophy of God’s grace. For months
my mind raced and I sought ways to communicate the truth of God’s word. I
immediately prayed, “I know this is not for me alone. Show me how to serve You.
Just open the door and I will preach Jesus.” I was called to preach at thirteen
and I tried and failed many times. After I was baptized with the Holy Spirit,
my life and ministry was transformed. God opened the door and gave my ministry
power. I led one person to Christ before this day and now I can’t count the
number of lives God has touched through the ministries He has given me. I could
not articulate a meaningful sermon before that day. Now I see a mental picture
of scripture and everything I preach or write has the focus of fitting into
that picture of God’s complete revelation in the Bible. Everything about me
changed that day.
After my experience, I
found that this is not entirely unique. Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, George
Whitefield, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, John Flavel, Charles Simeon, Andrew
Murray, D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, H. A. Gordon, Stephen Olford, Billy Graham
and many other prominent men of the past have testified to similar experiences.
I don’t even come close to measuring up to any of these men. The point I hope
to make from this is that every Christian has the open door. There is nothing
special about these men. God transformed ordinary men into extraordinary icons
of faith. The lack of power in the church today isn’t because God’s power is
diminished, but because we no longer seek God with all our heart. Jeremiah
29:13 says, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all
your heart.” Keep this passage in mind as I share a few of these men’s
testimonies about being baptized with the Holy
Spirit. Also note that these men are not ‘fringe’ ministers. They are all
considered to be very conservative and great men of church history. They are
some of the greatest evangelists and theologians in history. Their work is as
respected today as it was in their own day.
D. L. Moody
D.L. Moody was a
successful minister but by his own admission later, he lacked the power in his
ministry. One day two women came up to him after a service. They said,
"We have been
praying for you."
"Why don't you pray
for the people?" he asked.
"Because you need
the power of the Spirit," they said.
"I need the power!
Why," said Mr. Moody, in relating the incident years after, "I thought
I had power. I had the largest congregations in Chicago, and there were many
conversions.”
Moody also said that in a
sense, he was satisfied. He was in a comfort zone. But these two praying women
rocked the boat. They told him that they were praying for an anointing by the
Holy Spirit for D.L. to have a special service to God. He could not get this
off his mind and he said, “There came a great hunger in my soul. I did not know
what it was and I began to cry out to God as never before. I felt I did not
want to live if I could not have this power for service”.
After the great fire of
Chicago, DL was working to raise money to rebuild a tabernacle. He said his
heart was not into it because he kept crying out to God to fill him. He
withdrew and prayed during a visit to New York to raise money and he cried that
God would fill him with His Spirit. DL describes it this way:
“Well,
one day, in the city of New York -- oh, what a day! -- I cannot describe it, I
seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an
experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say that God
revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to
ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not
different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I
would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you
should give me all the world -- it would be as the small dust of the balance.”
Was D. L. Moody a
Christian before his experience?
Did his sermons change?
Did the effectiveness of
his ministry change?
R. A. Torrey
R.A. Torrey gives his
testimony:
The
address of this afternoon, and the addresses of the days immediately to follow,
are the outcome of an experience, and that experience was the outcome of a
study of the Word of God. After I had been a Christian for some years,
and after I had been in the ministry for some years, my attention was strongly attracted to certain phrases found in the
Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles, such as
"baptized with the Holy Spirit," "filled with the Spirit,"
"the Holy Spirit fell upon them," "the gift of the Holy
Spirit," "endued with power from on high," and other closely
allied phrases. As I studied these various phrases in their context, it became
clear to me that they all stood for essentially the same experience; and it
also became clear to me that God has provided for each child of His in this
present dispensation that they should be thus "baptized with the
Spirit," or, "filled with the Spirit."
As
I studied the subject still further, I became convinced that they described an
experience which I did not myself possess, and I went to work to secure for
myself the experience thus described. I sought earnestly that I might "be
baptized with the Holy Spirit." I went at it very ignorantly. I have often
wondered if anyone ever went at it any more ignorantly than I did. But while I
was ignorant, I was thoroughly sincere and in earnest, and God met me, as He
always meets the sincere and earnest soul, no matter how ignorant he may be;
and God gave me what I sought, I was "baptized with the Holy Spirit."
And the result was a transformed Christian life and a transformed ministry.
(I
have added the bold for emphasis).
Was Torrey a Christian
before this experience?
Was his ministry changed?
Was his life changed?
Charles G. Finney
I
was powerfully converted on the morning of the month of October, 1822. In the
evening of the same day I received overwhelming baptisms of the Holy Ghost,
that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and soul. I immediately found
myself endued with such power from on high that a few words dropped here and
there to individuals were the means of their immediate conversion. My words
seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men. They cut like a sword.
They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can attest to this. Oftentimes a
word dropped without my remembering it would fasten conviction, and often
result in almost immediate conversion. Sometimes I would find myself, in a
great measure, empty of this power. I would go and visit, and find that I made
no saving impression. I would exhort and pray, with the same result. I would
then set apart a day for private fasting and prayer, fearing that this power
had departed from me, and would inquire anxiously after the reason of this
apparent emptiness. After humbling myself, and crying out for help, the
power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been the experience of my life.
Was Finney a Christian
when he was baptized by the Holy Spirit?
How did it affect his
ministry?
---
Stephen Olford gives a
similar testimony as he checked into a motel and committed to stay and pray
until he was baptized by the Holy Spirit so that God could empower him for
service. God answered and gave him a powerful ministry reaching the world
through radio during the golden radio years and he continues his ministry by
teaching ministers. Billy Graham said that Stephen Olford had a powerful
influence over his life. Stephen prayed with Billy until he was baptized and
then God exploded Billy Graham’s evangelistic ministry.
I have included some of
the testimonies of some of the greatest theologians and evangelists in history.
Why have we missed this important truth about the gospel? This truth is
overshadowed by counterfeits and sensationalism, which directs us away from the
true power God desires for every believer. Also notice that none of these men
reported speaking in tongues. It is a misguided belief that tongues is a
required sign as proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. By their testimonies
and writings, none of these men ever spoke in tongues, yet when they were
baptized by the Holy Spirit, it transformed their lives and empowered them for
God’s service. The baptism of the Holy Spirit immediately shifted their focus
from their ministry to God’s purpose. The purpose of speaking in tongues is not
important to this study. What is important is that God’s power is like God’s
grace. He offers it equally to all.
In scripture we don’t see
a single example of a ‘re-baptism’ of the Holy Spirit. In the testimonies of
these me, we don’t find this either. It is not a weekly occurrence, but a
baptism – a single event that transforms the life of a Christian. However,
Charles Finney brings up an important point. If we allow ourselves to drift
away from God we can quench the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He took
special time out to pray and fast to receive power afresh. However, we don’t
seek re-baptism. We seek renewal.
Do you think God still
gives this power to the church today?
Why don’t most Christians
experience this in their lives?
How do I get filled?
Ephesians 5:
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand
what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is
dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Not only is being filled
with the Spirit offered to all, but it is God’s will that we be filled and we
are commanded to be filled. Yet very few people will ever experience this
power. Before we go into the ‘how-tos’, let’s look at the warnings Jesus gave
on ‘how not to’. Look at Matthew 6:
6
"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your
door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees
in secret will reward you openly.
7 "And when you pray, do not use vain
repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their
many words.
What is a vain repetition?
Does this mean not to
repeat a request to God?
Is there a formula to
being filled with the Holy Spirit?
The ‘heathen’ are those
who do not know God. The world seeks many formulas to reach God or to get power
from a ‘higher power’. All formulas are a deception. The heathen that Jesus was
specifically referring to were those religions that thought that repetition
would provide power. A vain repetition is something that is repeated over and
over. Don’t mistake this for repeating a request to God. When we are earnestly
seeking an answer from God, we may ask Him many times before we get an answer.
A vain repetition is to chant something over and over thinking the ‘formula’
will have power. Many cults work themselves into trances by repeating a ‘special’
phrase over and over until they reach an ecstatic, euphoric, and blissful state
of mind. The power really isn’t in the phrase, but in the self-hypnosis that
usually results when the mind is focused on a phrase and repeated continually.
This can even be a ‘Christian’ phrase or word. For example, some people teach
that you must focus on, and continue chanting ‘Jesus’ until you are ‘filled’.
It may be true that you will hit ‘euphoria’, but that isn’t the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. If Jesus said, “don’t use vain repetitions”, how can we expect to
be filled by His power by using what He clearly warned us not to do? This goes
back to Jesus’ instruction that we must worship God in spirit and truth. Be
very weary of anyone who encourages chanting – even if they call it prayer.
Euphoric self-hypnosis is not of God. Satan will gladly use blissful illusions
as a distraction to sway people away from the true power of God.
Can God use methods that
violate His word?
A Thirst for God
The next natural question
is, ‘how’? There must first be a hunger and thirst for God. Matthew 5:6 says,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be
filled.” Every great evangelist and theologian with this testimony has one
thing in common – they all had that hunger for righteousness. They thirsted
after God and could not be satisfied with anything less than God. King David
had this desire for God when he wrote, “As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?”(Psalm 42). It is not the longing for
feelings or emotions that drive us to where God is calling, it is the thirst
for God Himself. If I am longing to be filled so that I can have joy and euphoria,
I will surely be led the wrong path. It is a pursuit of God, not a pursuit of
personal benefit. I hunger to do His will to be satisfied, not my own will.
Jesus said that His food was to do the will of the Father and finish His work
(John 4:34).
Are we seeking personal
benefit (joy, happiness and an emotional high), or a deeper relationship with
God?
Nothing has changed; we
still find our satisfaction in the center of God’s will. Every testimony of
great and common Christians who found this power from God has had the same
direction and focus. They all wanted to do God’s will. They didn’t want glory,
they wanted to glorify God. They wanted special power for special service. They
wanted to lose their lives for the sake of being completely used for God’s
will. They wanted to experience God. The evidence of the Holy Spirit is seen in
their lives. They lived holy; they proclaimed the truth of God’s word; they
called men to repentance and pointed to the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. The
Holy Spirit does not point people to seek the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the
Holy Spirit will not point to Himself, but to Jesus Christ. The Spirit of truth
will not speak of His own authority, but point to the authority of Christ.
Does the Holy Spirit
cause people to seek the Holy Spirit?
When someone is filled,
will they glorify the Holy Spirit or Jesus Christ?
Persistence
Let’s look at the entire
passage relevant to Jesus’ promise that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask. It is a long passage, but it is necessary to grasp the entire
principle.
Luke 11:
5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 'for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him';
7 "and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?
8 "I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 " So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12 "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 "If you then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
For now, I left out
verses 2-4 where Jesus teaches His disciples to model the ‘Lord’s prayer’. The
Lord’s prayer teaches reverence to God, acknowledgment of His hallowed name,
seeking forgiveness, forgiving others, establishing ourselves in the daily word
of God and submission so we can be led away from temptation and live holy lives
set apart for Him. The relationship with God is the foundation everything else
is built upon. If we are not right with God, our first step must be to get
right with Him.
Jesus then makes two
comparisons. First, if someone wants to borrow something from their neighbor in
the middle of the night, they will not easily get their request answered. Yet
if they persist, they will eventually get what they are asking for. The
neighbor will get out of bed and give them bread, not because they are friends,
but because he knows they will continue to persist until they receive it.
How does verse 8 apply to
asking God for the Holy Spirit?
In the testimonies we
reviewed, did any of these men receive at their first request?
Why?
The second comparison is
a son asking his father for his needs. If our children are hungry and ask to be
filled, we won’t give a rock or a scorpion. If we, who are self-serving by
nature and have impure motives can do good to our children, how much more of a
surety is our petitions to God whose love is self-sacrificing and seeks our
good?
What does the second
illustration used in verse 11-12 tell us about asking for the Holy Spirit’s
power?
These two illustrations
tie together to communicate how we ask for the promise of the Holy Spirit. What
was the purpose of the neighbor asking for bread? Not to serve himself, but to
meet the need of someone else. He did not seek for himself alone. He also
showed persistence. Those who successfully seek for God are always persistent.
If you are serious and truly hunger and thirst for God, you will never be
satisfied until you are filled with God. You will find God “when you seek for
Him with all your heart”. Saying a prayer is not seeking Him with all your
heart. Pleading on your knees until you get an answer is seeking, knocking and
asking. The person who is not persistent, does not hunger and thirst after God
and is not truly serious. We know for a fact that God wants to give us good
gifts; the only hold up is on our end. God is not the barrier. If God isn’t the
hold up, then we know we need to pray, seek and humble ourselves.
What significance is it
that the neighbor did not ask for himself alone?
Is a prayer the same as
seeking God with all your heart?
If someone truly hungers
and thirsts after God, will they be persistent?
What prevents us? Is the
barrier on God’s end our ours?
God gives grace to the Humble
Without brokenness, we
will not find God. Look at the following passages:
James
4:
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter
be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and He will lift you up.
Psalm
10:17 LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their
heart; You will cause Your ear to hear
Psalm
25:
9 The humble He guides in justice, And the
humble He teaches His way
Psalm
29
19
The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, And the poor among men
shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah
57
15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who
inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy
place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of
the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Why would the Bible tell
us to mourn?
What does it mean to
humble ourselves in the sight of God?
There are so many
passages that apply here, but I have picked out a few that I believe
communicate this point. We must humble ourselves before God before we can
expect Him to lift us up. Ecclesiastes also tells us that the wise will be in
the house of sorrow, but the fool will be in the house of laughter. When we humble ourselves and are broken
before God, we are given several promises. He will lift up those who make
themselves low, He will hear their desire; He will prepare their heart; He will
cause His ear to hear their prayer; He will guide them in justice and teach
them His ways. God also promises that those who humble themselves will not be
sorrowful because the Lord will increase their joy and cause them to rejoice.
We humble our spirit, but God revives our spirit. We enter the house of sorrow,
but God not only gives us joy, but also increases it beyond what we could have
found. God’s spirit dwells with the humble and contrite. Until I humble myself,
I am all the power behind my Christian life – and that is not much at all. When
I bring myself low, God exalts me to reflect His glory and point others to
Christ.
Does God want us to be
sorrowful?
Does God leave the lowly
down?
Why doesn’t God answer?
After my testimony, I was
recently asked by a skeptic, “If God answers prayer, why did your prayers fail
for all those years before God answered?” He asked the question to be cynical,
but in reality it was a very good question. I prayed off and on for God’s power
to live as an overcomer for over twenty years without an answer. Why? Why do
people today pray at the alter of churches across the world asking God to fill
them, but it never happens? Obviously, I can’t speak for others, but I can look
back on my own life and compare myself to scripture and get some answers. Look
at James 1
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting,
for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will
receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all
his ways.
What are the two
‘hindrances’ in this passage?
The focus in this passage
was on asking for wisdom from God, but the principle is the same for any
prayer. A double-minded person is unstable and can’t expect to receive anything
from the Lord. The person who lacks faith is unstable in all their ways. That
describes my past perfectly. Disbelief in God always leads us into sin. We want
God, but we really don’t believe He will fulfill His promises. Therefore, we
seek satisfaction from the world. I sin because I trust myself over God. I
don’t believe that God can satisfy me, so I have to go outside of His will to
pursue pleasure or fulfillment. Then I am driven to back to God when I am not
satisfied or I feel the burden of my sin. I grow discontented again because my
heart is in the world and I am driven by my desires to seek fulfillment in sin
again. Like the wind driven waves, I followed the tide of my selfish desires
into the waves and cried to be rescued when I felt lost. I continued to be
driven back and forth, again and again.
Why does disbelief lead
us to sin?
Why do we live in the
cycle of leaving God for the world and returning only to leave again?
The heart of the problem
was that I tried to cling to God while pursuing the world. God was ready to
answer my prayer from day one and there was no reason for me to have gone
through 20 years in the ‘wilderness’. My barrier was not from God, but from my
torn allegiance. I prayed for God to take control, but in my heart I still held
on to the last thread leading to the world. I wanted a safety line to the world
in case God didn’t meet my expectations. There was a war raging within me and I
was not ready to cut my ties. I wanted the benefits of God and at the same
time, I wanted the lust of the world. I did not want the consequences of sin,
but I did want the pleasure of sin. Even at the time of my breakthrough, God
was ready to answer on the first day of prayer, but I needed three days to
fight the battle. There was more than just a prayer involved. Satan had many
strongholds in my life and he was in control of my desires. Even though I
didn’t understand, a spiritual battle was raging. I hated the sin, but I was
drawn by the deception. Deception mixed with truth is still deception. God
could not answer my prayers until I truly yielded myself to Him.
Does God want to answer
quickly?
Why do we keep a safety
line to the world?
Self-deception is the
subtlest form of deception. I don’t realize how that I am lying to myself until
after I am standing in God’s truth. All those years I was convinced that I was
sincere, when in reality, I was playing games with God. I confessed my sins
with the suppressed intention to do as I pleased. Look at Jeremiah 17:
9 " The heart is deceitful above all
things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the
mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of
his doings.
Is there anything more
deceitful than our heart?
How does self-deception
hinder our relationship with God?
There is nothing more
deceitful than your own heart. Because we truly have a sin nature, our heart
desperately seeks wickedness. When my desires are in control of me, I will
always justify my actions and find a way to feel right about my disobedience to
God. Repentance is lost once I begin to justify my sins at any level. My heart
will always deceive me if it is my guide. Only God can search our heart and reveal
our intentions. Only God can test our minds and direct us to His ways. The
Bible tells us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the
way of death”. There is no way around it – our motives are not pure. We may
deceive ourselves into thinking we are justified, but unless God is in control,
we will be driven back and forth by our own desires. Look at Proverbs 16
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own
eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits.
3 Commit your works to the LORD, And your
thoughts will be established.
Should we let our heart
be our guide?
How can we break the
cycle of deception?
Only God can establish
our thoughts. It is not until I commit my ways completely to Him and cut the
strings to my own control that can He direct my steps. True prayer is not
drawing God to our will, but drawing ourselves closer to God. When you are
driven by your own will and your own desires, satan has a stronghold that he
will not willingly release. Jesus said that the strongman must first be bound
and then the house can be plundered. Satan is bound by our submission to God.
Our flesh is satan’s domain, but God has the power to overcome. The
prerequisite to the baptism of the Holy Spirit is found in the Lord’s Prayer.
Luke 11:
2 So He said to them, "When you pray,
say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will
be done On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins, For we also
forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But
deliver us from the evil one."
What is Jesus teaching in
this model prayer?
Understand and
acknowledge God for who He is. He has the right to be God. He has the right to
our lives. He has the right to do His good will. We align ourselves with the
bread of His word. We seek forgiveness as we forgive others. Bitterness is
always a barrier to God’s will in our life. You can’t be bitter and blessed.
Satan is bound from our lives as we pray for deliverance while allowing God to
lead us away from temptation. Only then will God open the door and fill us. The
Holy Spirit will not dwell in a life filled with what He hates. We are
commanded, “Do not quench the Spirit”. We quench the Spirit of God by
disobedience. Sin and the Spirit are not cohabitates. God will not fill a heart
filled with selfish desires. We first empty ourselves and humble ourselves by
pouring out our hearts before Him. Then we have the promise that God will give
us His Holy Spirit.
Seek and you shall find.
I was completely unaware that there was such a thing as being baptized in the
Spirit, yet God answered my sincere cry. Those who are persistent and seek God
with a hunger and thirst for His righteousness will be filled. Those who mumble
a prayer and never seek, knock and ask with a deep longing and faith in Him,
will not find. God longs to fill anyone who asks with His Spirit, but we must
yield and submit themselves to Him.
Can the Holy Spirit fill
a life that is already filled?
It is important to
understand that God saves us by His Spirit and we are sealed as His born-again
child. The event of our new birth is not the same as the event of being
baptized in the Holy Spirit. It is possible that these two could happen at the
same time, but all the testimonies I have found show that this is rare. In
Charles Finney’s case, he was saved in the morning and filled by the Spirit in
the evening. In most others, the realization that there is more came later in
their ministry or Christian walk. Charles Finney was one of the great
evangelists of last century and he testified that he frequently withdrew to
pray and be anointed with the power of God to do ministry. It is vital that we
continuously withdraw to seek God’s face and humble ourselves before Him. Without
this time of deep prayer, our lives and ministries that God has called us to
will not have His power. If we allow ourselves to increase, the power of God
will decrease. It is only natural to drift away from God, but the wise man or
woman will continue to humble themselves and be broken before God so that He
can lift them up and empower them by His power and for His glory.
What happens when I allow
myself to increase (or become self-focused)?
Never fall into the trap
of thinking you have arrived. The deeper my faith and the closer I get to God,
the more I see how short I fall. That in itself becomes a blessing because I
see the need for surrender and the value of God’s grace. Always be satisfied
with who you are in Christ, but never be satisfied with where you are. The
journey does not end and until you stand before Jesus Christ in Heaven, the
process of conforming to the image of Christ never ends. The promise of being
filled is to those who hunger and thirst. When you quit hungering and thirsting
for God, you will begin to drift away. Regardless of where you are spiritually,
there is infinitely more to God that you are yet to experience. Always be
content with what God has given, be satisfied with God and who you are in Him,
but never grow complacent by being content with where you are.
Exchanged
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