Baptism of the Holy Spirit

“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!”
Luke 11:13

In the early church in the book of Acts, Christians were often water baptised after they believed in Christ. Water baptism is widely practised in churches up till today. However, there is another encounter that took place in the early church called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that is unfortunately often not explained to new believers but is explicitly mentioned in Scriptures (Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5,8). The bible says my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6) and many in the body of Christ have little or no scriptural understanding in this. In accordance with Luke 11:13, believers received when they asked God to give them the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues. When believers are baptised in the Holy Spirit, they are filled with God’s supernatural power. If even Jesus needed to be baptised with the Holy Spirit before the start of his ministry (Luke 4:1), before his first miracle performed, how much more believers! If you have already received Christ and prayed the salvation prayer, you are a believer and you are encouraged to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit by asking God and praying below:

Suggested prayer to receive baptism of the Holy Spirit:

Dear God,

I recognize my need for Your power to live this life. I ask that You fill me with Your Holy Spirit and I receive Him by faith right now. Thank You for baptizing me, Holy Spirit and I welcome You in my life.

In Jesus name I pray, Amen

If you prayed the above prayer, believe that God has given you the Holy Spirit to you when you ask in faith (Luke 11:10, 13). When you pray to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not going to drop from heaven on you. He is not going to sneak up on you from behind. But you may ask, where is He going to come from? The Holy Spirit is already on the inside of you so He is going to rise up out of you. As the Holy Spirit rises up and you receive Him and release, He runs over your vocal chords and out comes “tongues”.

When you are baptised in the Holy Spirit, some syllables from a language you do not recognise will rise up from your heart to your mouth (I Corinthians14:14) and that is called praying in tongues – it is your spirit praying. When you are willing to yield your tongue to speak a language your mind cannot control, it is a sign that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. For a long time after understanding the significance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and desiring to be filled with the Holy Spirit, some may still ‘struggle’ with praying in tongues. They may be waiting but not opening their mouth to “speak”. Acts 2:4 said that on the day of Pentecost, the disciples began to speak, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). So, speak out loud this prayer language by faith. It is releasing God’s power from within you and building yourself up in the spirit.

The purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to give us power to be witnesses for Jesus (Acts 1:8), to release boldness to operate in who we really are in Christ. It also opens up understanding of the word of God (Proverbs 1:23), it is a doorway to the supernatural and operation of the gifts (I Corinthians 12), stirs us up in our faith (Jude 1:20), keeps us in the love of God (Jude 1:21), edifies and refreshes us (I Corinthians 14:4) and expands our prayer life (I Corinthians 14:14-16).

If believers will allow the Bible to get in the way of what they believe or what the traditions of men teach and if they would carefully search out the scriptures, they will know the truth and the truth will set them free (John 8:32). In the Bible, the born again experience and the baptism of the Holy Spirit was 1) explained by Jesus 2) took place in Gospels and Day of Pentecost and 3) continued in Acts. They are separate experiences and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not automatic, i.e. believers need to ask to receive (Luke 11:13).

1. Explained by Jesus
Born Again ExperienceBaptism of the Holy Spirit
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” – John 4:13-14On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. – John 7:37-39
2. Occurred in Gospels and
Day of Pentecost
Born Again ExperienceBaptism of the Holy Spirit
 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” – John 20:21-22

[Other cross references to explain
I Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. – Genesis 2:7

See also Romans 5:12-19]




 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. – Luke 24:49

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. – Acts 2:1-4
3. Continued in Acts
Born Again Experience | Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Peter and John with Christians at Samaria
Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. – Acts 8:14-17

Peter with Cornelius’ household
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. – Acts 10:44-48

Paul with Christians at Ephesus
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples  he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would 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 hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all. – Acts 19:1-7

If the Baptism of the Holy Spirit were automatic, Luke 11:13 would not have said “how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”.

There is a very clear presentation in Scripture of the importance of the born again experience and the baptism of the Holy Spirit as explained by Jesus, telling the disciples to tarry and wait for the Promise and how the Apostles would also ask the believers about it and praying for them to receive the Holy Spirit because through that, believers receive power to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8).

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