Expert: Marilyn - 7/11/2009

Question
When does one receive Holy Spirit?

From Ephesians 1:13,14, I understand that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit on believing in Jesus Christ & Acts 19:1-6 says, some believers received Holy Spirit after Paul laid his hands upon them.

Please explain.

Sincerely,
Lenin

Answer
Hello Lenin!

Great to hear from you. I hope you are doing well.

The story of Abraham sending his servant to obtain a wife for his son, Isaac, is a picture of how God sends His Holy Spirit to woo us to His side. Like Rebekah, we haven't seen our Bridegroom. We believe He is Good and fall in love with Him based on the Servant's testimony in our hearts.

Like Rebekah, who accepts the servant's gift of a nose ring and bracelets, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, our "engagement ring." In the Jewish way an engaged couple are as good as married, though they must wait until the father says the house is ready before they can have the ceremony and consummate the marriage.

Let me back track a little. In the old Jewish way, according to Zola Levitt, a young man might see a young lady he'd like to marry. His father (Abraham sent his servant) goes to the young lady's father to discover if the match is agreeable to him and negotiate the dowry etc.. If it is, then the young man will pay the young lady a visit. He will bring bread and wine. During the course of his visit, he will present the bread and wine. If she eats some of the bread and drinks some of the wine she indicates she accepts his proposal. When we partake of the Lord's Supper we indicate to Jesus we accept His proposal.

Then the young man hurries home to prepare a place for his new family. Jesus went home to prepare a place for us. Jesus tells His disciples, "In my Father's House are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may also be where I am," John 14:2&3.

The father can decide at any moment that the "house" is ready and the young man might leave in the middle of the night to fetch his bride. Remember the parable about the 10 Virgins and their oil lamps? Once the bride has accepted her bridegroom's proposal, she has to be ready to go with him at any time, day or night. And so, we also must be ready at any time, day or night, to go to be with our Bridegroom, Jesus.

We who believe are sealed with the Holy Spirit, we have received our "engagement ring," we are marked as belonging to God. But there is more of the Holy Spirit available to us.

In Acts 19 Paul discovers some people who believe in Jesus, he asks, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard of the Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied."

Back in Acts 1 when Jesus gives his final speech to His disciples He said, "...John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit...You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

"Baptize" is a Greek word meaning, "dunk or to pour over and thoroughly saturate." A person can be a believer in Jesus, he can be marked as Jesus' possession, but still not yet be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Clearly the Apostles were marked, clearly the disciples Paul encountered were marked, but they had not yet been baptized. When Paul baptized them in the Holy Spirit they began speaking in tongues and prophesy.

Paul explains prophecy and tongues in I Corinthians 14. "Follow the Way of Love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be edified...anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.

"I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue."

I Corinthians 12 describes the gifts of the Spirit, chapter 13 describes LOVE without which all gifts are useless, chapter 14 explains the regulation and use of prophecy and tongues.

The New Testament prophet is not necessarily one who tells of the future, but is one through whom new revelations of God pass through to the church. He may be a preacher, but if he is, he is one who opens a person's mind to new concepts and revelations of God. Tongues are a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but must be used with restraint because during corporate worship, they're distracting and disruptive.

One can feel free to pray in tongues under one's breath or in his prayer closet to his heart's content. Praying in tongues is the Holy Spirit praying through you so that the enemy cannot understand what you are asking for or praying about and interfere with it, but you won't know what you are asking for or praying about, unless the Holy Spirit also gives you interpretation of the tongues.

Paul laid hands on the disciples he discovered in Acts 19. This is the usual way a person is baptized in the Holy Spirit. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit while I prayed alone, asking to be baptized. Before the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a Christian is a powerhouse in potential. The Apostles came out of the upper room in Acts baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in many languages and foreigners standing in the vicinity understood what was said. They went out with boldness they lacked before, with the same power of healing and knowledge of things that Jesus had possessed.

After baptism in the Holy Spirit, a Christian's potential is more available to him, but he must actually listen and obey, same as before, but now he does so more power and assurance. What I am saying is that the Holy Spirit is a Perfect Gentleman. He does not impose Himself on you as the enemy might if you were to open the door to him. The Holy Spirit does not possess a person the way the enemy possesses a person, over-ruling the will and working destruction. The Holy Spirit is the Kindness and Gentleness of God coupled with His Power living within you. When you are baptized in Him, you are immersed in that Kindness and Gentleness. It is a refreshing and an increasing of that experience you enjoyed when you first received Jesus as Lord when He marked you with His seal, only now you are immersed.

When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit open your mouth and let the sounds come out. Some people are frightened of this because we like to be in control of our mouths and minds, or at least THINK we are in control. But baptism in the Holy Spirit is nothing more than a new level of surrender to God. It is the next step in the consummation of the "marriage" between us and the Lord Jesus. Earthly marriage is a picture of Heavenly marriage. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is like walks along a beautiful stream with our beloved, like quiet dinner when all is well and love flows like sweet scent in the room, it is that boldness a young husband feels when he realizes he is madly in love with is wife...It is what Adam gave up when he ate the forbidden fruit, it is something God wants to share with you.

When you surrender to the Holy Spirit He enlivens within you the gifts God wants to give you or has already placed in you as His unique creation, His one of a kind Lenin who has a specific purpose and job to complete on this planet only you can accomplish. Your gift will be uniquely yours. Do not be concerned if you are not like someone else who is filled with the Spirit--you won't be, you are unique.

You can pray right now to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but before you do, be prepared to surrender fully to Him and then surrender. Just speak the phrases and sounds that come to your mind even if you don't understand them. This is your personal prayer language which you can use in times of great distress or when you simply do not know how to pray. Romans 8:26 & 27, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the Mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." Praying in tongues does something intangible to your spirit that makes him stronger and better able to master your body and mind to submit to the Father's will. Also, praying in tongues can released revelation for you, open God's Word in a deeper way, connect you more richly with God.

Pentecostal churches in America often have someone praying in tongues during corporate prayer. This past Sunday we visited the church where our oldest son and his wife attend. A woman cried out in tongues two times and different people interpreted the sounds. We attend a Presbyterian church and were a little skeptical, even though we believe fully in the gift of tongues (my husband and I aren't really Presbyterians, but our church is led by a Pentecostal trained preacher who is obviously Spirit filled). (I hesitate to say I belong to any denomination because I don't see myself as a Presbyterian or a Pentecostal, I only see myself as a Christian. And I will be truly contented if and when the Lord Jesus says to me, "Hello Christian," which is to say, "Hello Little Christ, person who showed me to the world.") I recognize within myself this tendency to be skeptical even though I speak in tongues sometimes when I pray. I have not spoken in tongues in public, nor have I ever felt inclined or encouraged to do so.

As mentioned above, we like to have control. We like to know what's going on and are skeptical when we aren't in control or don't know what's going on. This is not necessarily a good thing. Surrender means giving up control. When we are willing to give up control and just do what God asks, we are at our best because it is only by Him and through Him that we are worth anything at all.

Sincerely,

Marilyn