The Olive Branch Church at Woodforest
How Do I Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit? (Acts 2:38, 39)
You need to a number of
things in order to receive this wonderful blessing.
First, you need to be born
again. The person who is going to be
filled with the Spirit must belong to Jesus (Romans 8:9).
The second thing you have to
do is ask. The Bible says, if we ask
for the Holy Spirit, that prayer will be answered (Luke 11:8).
The third thing you have to
do is surrender. The Apostle Paul made
this need clear in the Book of Romans when he said, “Present your bodies a
living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1).
Fourth, you must be willing
to obey the Spirit. God does not give
this power to someone and then say, “You can take the part you like and leave
the part you do not like.” If you want
to be immersed in the Holy Spirit, you need to be prepared to obey the Spirit
(Acts 5:32).
Fifth, you need to
believe. The apostle Paul said,
“Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith?” (Galatians 3:2). The answer, obviously, is faith. You have to believe that if you ask, you
will receive.
Finally, you have to exercise
what God has given you. Having asked,
having received, having been willing to obey, and having believed, you need to
respond in a biblical fashion.
The Bible says those
baptized with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost “began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). This means they spoke the words that the
Spirit gave them. The Holy Spirit gave
the words, but the apostles and disciples voluntarily responded. There was action based on faith, no merely
passive acceptance of the blessing.
That is the way is with God. God
is offering the baptism in the Holy Spirit to people who need to reach out and
take it; enjoy its blessings and enhance the Kingdom of God.