[This blog part of a series of blogs which are a direct quotation from Dr. Paul E. Paino’s book, Is The Holy Spirit Real? If you haven’t read prior blogs in this series, I encourage you to read previous blogs from the “The Holy Spirit” category on this blog. The information in these prior blogs will be important in understanding latter information.]
How To Receive the Baptism in Holy Spirit
There is no set formula for a person receiving this experience. It is almost pointless to write guidelines for experiencing the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who does the baptizing. It is necessary that we come to Him for this glorious experience.
However, there are some very important steps that must be taken before this is possible. There are some steps that need to be taken in order that we may become candidates for this baptism.
First, a person must be born again [saved, a Christian, asked Jesus into their heart, etc.]. Without repentance and confession of Jesus Christ as Savior, there can never be a spiritual baptism. A person cannot qualify because they are a member of a church, or because they have lived a good life. Doing good deeds and being a proper person is not sufficient to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Then, we receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit when we ask Jesus for it (Luke 11:9).
There are instances where people have received the baptism without asking for it. In Acts 10:44, we read that the people who had gathered in the home of Cornelius were gloriously baptized and they all spoke with “tongues.” This is an exception to the rule.
Asking Jesus for anything is an expression of faith! The Lord honors us when we come to Him trusting His promises.
Then, we receive the baptism when we are willing to believe that we have received. In the spiritual walk, seeing is not believing. The very opposite is true. Believing is seeing (Mark 11:23-24).
In conversion, we must believe in our heart that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose again. We must acknowledge that He is our living Savior. Then, it is necessary for us to give an expression of our faith. We must confess with our mouth that we believe in our heart.
The disciples received the baptism through the laying on of hands. Today thousands of people experience this glorious baptism when hands are laid on them in the Name of the Lord (Acts 19:6).
In every case in the Scripture, where it is evident that persons receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, they speak in tongues. Peter knew that Cornelius and his household had received the baptism for they heard them speak with tongues.
There must also be an expression of faith. Without the believer yielding his life, his voice, his will, and his mind to the Lord, there will be no baptism. When an attitude of worship and praise fills the heart and we surrender totally to the Lord, He will baptize us. The Lord does the baptizing, but we must do the speaking.
As long as we speak in our native language, our spirit is not totally yielded tot he Lord. When we begin to speak words that have no meaning or significance to our mind, it gives our renewed spirit the privilege of praying and praising in a dimension the believer has never experienced before.
We need not be fearful or hesitant when we ask the Lord to baptize us (Luke 11:11-13).
So we need to distinguish between the word of the Holy Spirit in Regeneration, Anointing, Infilling, and Baptism. In Regeneration, we are “born again.” We receive spiritual life. We are quickened and made alive by the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 2:1-5).
When the Holy Spirit Anoints us, it is because we have committed ourselves to serve the Lord someplace in HIs church. His anointing empowers us to do the work of the ministry.
Then, the Holy Spirit blesses us and fills us. He blesses us in order to encourage praise and worship. Then, the baptism in the Holy Spirit moves the believer into a deeper relationship with the Lord. Prayer life is expanded. There is a new dimension to praise and worship. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is the door for the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself through the believer with the “spirituals.” Love for the Lord Jesus is intensified and a sensitivity to the will of the Lord is sharpened.
[For the sake of consecutive learning in the manner in which the book was intended (all in one chapter), comments to this post have been turned off. Discussion will open on Part 7 (at the end of the chapter).]