In the early twentieth century, an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit forever changed the world. This revival that gave birth to what was
later called the Pentecostal movement.
The Pentecostal-Charismatic movement today numbers approximately six
hundred million.
This revival had its roots in the
holiness movements of the late 1800s and the revival that began in Topeka,
Kansas, and later spread to the Asuza Street Mission in Los Angeles,
California.
One of the characteristics of this
revival was the Infilling of the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking with other
tongues. This experience is defined in
the Bible as the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
What does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? It means to be immersed into the Holy Spirit,
to be in-filled with the power of the Holy Spirit so that we might live an
overcoming life.
In Matthew 3:11 – John the Baptist
gave this prophecy, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He
who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to
carry. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire.”
In Acts 1:5 Jesus told us before He
ascended into heaven “John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Full Life Study Bible commentary
reads, “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit will bring personal boldness and power
of the Holy Spirit into the believer’s life in order to accomplish mighty works
in Christ’s name and to make the believer’s witness and proclamation effective!”
How many of you would like to
experience that personal boldness in your Christian walk today? Then I want to invite you to seek to be
filled with the Holy Spirit.
Since the outpouring of the twentieth century, the phenomenon of speaking with tongues has been a subject of great interest,
as well as great controversy. The Bible teaches that the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit is a gift that is available to every believer.
In Acts 2:1-4 we learn that the Holy Spirit
was poured out upon 120 men and woman as they prayed and earnestly sought what
Jesus called the “Promise of the Father.”
In verses 3 - 4 it reads, “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.”
Why does God use the tongue? In James 3:6,
the Apostle writes, “And the tongue is a
fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is
so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the
course of nature, and is set on fire by hell.”
When we speak with tongues we yield what
James 3:8 calls the unruly member that no man can tame. When we speak in tongues we give evidence
that the whole person is yielded to God. God uses the most unruly member of the
body as a symbol of the Spirit’s complete control of the believer.
God chooses tongues because He desires to
tame our tongues. On the Day of
Pentecost at the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He tamed the untamable,
and the uncontrollable human tongue.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit will cause you
to be bold in the things of God. Why not
seek to experience this wonderful infilling of the Holy Spirit today?
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