“He who believes [who adheres to and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth] and is baptized will be saved [from the penalty of death]: but he who does not believe [who does not adhere to and trust in and rely on the Gospel and Him Who it sets forth] will be condemned.” Mark 16:16 Amplified Bible
The first step to being filled with the Holy Spirit is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to believe in Jesus, to accept and make Him Lord of our lives.
The first step to being filled with the Holy Spirit is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to believe in Jesus, to accept and make Him Lord of our lives.
Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking under the power and influence of the [Holy] Spirit of God can [ever] say, Jesus be cursed! And no one can [really] say, Jesus is [my] Lord, except by and under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3
Jesus is our way, the Truth, and the Light, He is our doorway into salvation and no man can enter in except they go through Christ! “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9 And none of us can even begin to seek Jesus unless the Holy Spirit first empowers us to seek Him.
"And Phillip said, If you believe with all of your heart [if you have a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah and accept Him as the Author of your salvation in the Kingdom of God, giving Him your obedience, then] you may. And he replied, I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Acts 8:37 Amplified Bible
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13
"Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:4
"For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2
I wrote all of these scriptures out to show that Jesus is the only way to salvation, if we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to believe with all our heart, if we trust in and rely on Him, and confess Him as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved. There are no maybes about it, if we seek, we will find, if we knock, the door will be opened, and if we ask, we will receive, Matthew 7:7. And the salvation of Jesus Christ is freely available for everyone, our Father does not limit it to a certain race, a gender, a denomination, or a social class. Salvation is for all who truly have been empowered to believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. Our Father also wants us to know the Truth that now is the time of His salvation, and His Truth sets us free! We don’t have to wait; all who want salvation can freely have salvation, and we can have it with all of its benefits here on the earth, right now!
Jesus said that salvation is for all who believe and are baptized. Believing is easily understood, but what does Jesus mean by baptized? Is baptized being sprinkled with water as an infant, is it being dunked in water as an adult, or is it something else? Turn in your Bible to Mark 1:8, “I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” (The Holy Ghost and The Holy Spirit are the same thing) This scripture was John the Baptist talking about the power of Jesus. John was baptizing people with water as an evidence of them turning from their sin. It was a testimony to others. As he did this, he began to prophesy about Jesus, and he said, “He Who was coming after him, was stronger than he was, and that He (Jesus) wouldn’t baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit.” “And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” John 1:33 The baptism of Jesus isn’t an action by us, or a testimony we provide as an evidence of doing something, it is an action by Jesus. It is Jesus’ testimony that He did something, that He saved us and empowered us to be free from the power of death. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive evermore, A-men; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18
OK, so we see that Jesus doesn’t use water to baptize us with, He uses the Holy Ghost, but what is being baptized with the Holy Ghost? That’s a great question, and to start let’s look at the Greek word this verse uses to translate baptized from, it’s baptizo, Strong’s Concordance number 907. The example given in the Strong’s Concordance to explain baptized is a cucumber becoming a pickle. The cucumber is first washed, that is a cleansing from all dirt, that word in the Greek is bapto, than after it is cleaned, you baptizo, or baptize, the cucumber, submerging it in the pickling spices. That act forever changes the cucumber into a pickle, the spices become one with the cucumber and it is changed into a pickle. That is baptizo, or baptized. So if you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, you have become one with God, His Spirit is now in you, on you, through you, and you are a new creature in Christ, which is God’s Anointing, old things are passed away and behold all things are new to you!
“At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20 In the verses right before this one, Jesus is proclaiming that the Holy Ghost was coming, so the day Jesus is referring to is the day of us being filled with the Holy Ghost! The day you will know that Jesus is in you and that you are truly in the Father, is the day you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, the day you are filled with Him, the day He is on you, through you, and one with you! Remember Jesus said for us to be saved is not just believing on Him, but when we believe and are baptized with the Holy Ghost. There are many people who believe in Jesus, think about how many people you know who say they believe that Jesus lived? Yet they don’t trust Him as their Savior. Man on his own can’t do the things that God has required for a full and rich life. We could never continue to believe in Jesus throughout our lives without the power of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, within us to insure it. That assurance of salvation is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The power of God that birthed Jesus into this world and the power that allowed Him to serve God and us, is the same power that we have been given and the same power that we have been birthed of!
Now is the time for this baptism, it is for everyone, and Jesus is the way for God to do it for us, because today is the day of salvation! Salvation is believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and being baptized by Him with the Holy Spirit of God! To finish up, let’s look at some scriptures that explain how the Baptism of the Holy Spirit happens. Jesus teaches us that there are two distinct things, believing and being baptized; keep that Truth in mind!
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:2-4
Jesus had told the disciples to go into an upper room after His ascension into Heaven and pray and wait and that He would send the Holy Ghost unto them. This is how it happened for my mother, she was alone in her bedroom and the Holy Ghost fell upon her as she was seeking out the Lord. She was already a believer, as those in the Book of Acts were; yet she had not been filled with the Holy Spirit of God. I was filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands in a church service after being baptized with water. I was eleven years old and had believed in Jesus long before that. “Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” Acts 8:15-17
“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should 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 his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” Acts 19:1-6
The Bible shows different ways that we may be baptized with the Holy Spirit, while praying or by the laying on of hands. Our Father is God; He can baptize us with His Spirit however He wants. If our Father wants to turn a stone into something He can, never limit our Father to your own experiences. He can do greater things than we can ask or think and He will do it by His power that is now within us! Some may be filled right when they accept Jesus, some may be filled later, but the important thing is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The common ground is the Holy Spirit Himself first causing us to have a believing and accepting heart. We receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit, it is His actions empowering us, not our actions. If you don’t know if you have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, you haven’t! If you can’t testify of the exact moment when it happened, than you haven’t. I am not trying to be mean, but look at what Jesus said. “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:38-39
How can we have rivers of living water flowing from us and not know it? Our lives will be changed and as we read in the Book of Acts, when people were baptized with the Holy Ghost, supernatural things happened as a result of the act. They prophesied, they prayed in tongues, there were healings, mass conversions; power was always associated with the baptism of the Holy Ghost! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He changes not, so the same holds true today! “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6 The baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not an uneventful or uncertain event in our lives!
Be blessed, the Word of God is Truth, and the Truth will set us free, and our Father's Word will never fall void to the earth. The Holy Ghost is the power of our salvation and together we can walk in the fullness of Him. Together with Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, we can be used by our Father to heal the sick, save the lost, prophesy to the needs of the people, ask and receive, seek and find, and through the power of God all things are possible! The Anointing of the Holy Ghost allows God to be fully Who He is within us! We are born of Him, we’re His offspring, we are because He is, He willed us into life, and He chose us! We have passed from death unto life, and He has delivered us out of darkness and has placed us in His glorious Light. He has saved us to the uttermost, and with Him all things are possible. He is willing and able to do all that He has spoken, and He loves us every bit as much as He loves Jesus! You my brother and sisters are strong in the power of His might, and we are more than conquerors through Christ that loves us!
"And Phillip said, If you believe with all of your heart [if you have a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah and accept Him as the Author of your salvation in the Kingdom of God, giving Him your obedience, then] you may. And he replied, I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Acts 8:37 Amplified Bible
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13
"Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:4
"For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2
I wrote all of these scriptures out to show that Jesus is the only way to salvation, if we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to believe with all our heart, if we trust in and rely on Him, and confess Him as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved. There are no maybes about it, if we seek, we will find, if we knock, the door will be opened, and if we ask, we will receive, Matthew 7:7. And the salvation of Jesus Christ is freely available for everyone, our Father does not limit it to a certain race, a gender, a denomination, or a social class. Salvation is for all who truly have been empowered to believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. Our Father also wants us to know the Truth that now is the time of His salvation, and His Truth sets us free! We don’t have to wait; all who want salvation can freely have salvation, and we can have it with all of its benefits here on the earth, right now!
Jesus said that salvation is for all who believe and are baptized. Believing is easily understood, but what does Jesus mean by baptized? Is baptized being sprinkled with water as an infant, is it being dunked in water as an adult, or is it something else? Turn in your Bible to Mark 1:8, “I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” (The Holy Ghost and The Holy Spirit are the same thing) This scripture was John the Baptist talking about the power of Jesus. John was baptizing people with water as an evidence of them turning from their sin. It was a testimony to others. As he did this, he began to prophesy about Jesus, and he said, “He Who was coming after him, was stronger than he was, and that He (Jesus) wouldn’t baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit.” “And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” John 1:33 The baptism of Jesus isn’t an action by us, or a testimony we provide as an evidence of doing something, it is an action by Jesus. It is Jesus’ testimony that He did something, that He saved us and empowered us to be free from the power of death. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive evermore, A-men; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18
OK, so we see that Jesus doesn’t use water to baptize us with, He uses the Holy Ghost, but what is being baptized with the Holy Ghost? That’s a great question, and to start let’s look at the Greek word this verse uses to translate baptized from, it’s baptizo, Strong’s Concordance number 907. The example given in the Strong’s Concordance to explain baptized is a cucumber becoming a pickle. The cucumber is first washed, that is a cleansing from all dirt, that word in the Greek is bapto, than after it is cleaned, you baptizo, or baptize, the cucumber, submerging it in the pickling spices. That act forever changes the cucumber into a pickle, the spices become one with the cucumber and it is changed into a pickle. That is baptizo, or baptized. So if you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, you have become one with God, His Spirit is now in you, on you, through you, and you are a new creature in Christ, which is God’s Anointing, old things are passed away and behold all things are new to you!
“At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20 In the verses right before this one, Jesus is proclaiming that the Holy Ghost was coming, so the day Jesus is referring to is the day of us being filled with the Holy Ghost! The day you will know that Jesus is in you and that you are truly in the Father, is the day you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, the day you are filled with Him, the day He is on you, through you, and one with you! Remember Jesus said for us to be saved is not just believing on Him, but when we believe and are baptized with the Holy Ghost. There are many people who believe in Jesus, think about how many people you know who say they believe that Jesus lived? Yet they don’t trust Him as their Savior. Man on his own can’t do the things that God has required for a full and rich life. We could never continue to believe in Jesus throughout our lives without the power of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, within us to insure it. That assurance of salvation is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The power of God that birthed Jesus into this world and the power that allowed Him to serve God and us, is the same power that we have been given and the same power that we have been birthed of!
Now is the time for this baptism, it is for everyone, and Jesus is the way for God to do it for us, because today is the day of salvation! Salvation is believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and being baptized by Him with the Holy Spirit of God! To finish up, let’s look at some scriptures that explain how the Baptism of the Holy Spirit happens. Jesus teaches us that there are two distinct things, believing and being baptized; keep that Truth in mind!
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:2-4
Jesus had told the disciples to go into an upper room after His ascension into Heaven and pray and wait and that He would send the Holy Ghost unto them. This is how it happened for my mother, she was alone in her bedroom and the Holy Ghost fell upon her as she was seeking out the Lord. She was already a believer, as those in the Book of Acts were; yet she had not been filled with the Holy Spirit of God. I was filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands in a church service after being baptized with water. I was eleven years old and had believed in Jesus long before that. “Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” Acts 8:15-17
“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should 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 his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” Acts 19:1-6
The Bible shows different ways that we may be baptized with the Holy Spirit, while praying or by the laying on of hands. Our Father is God; He can baptize us with His Spirit however He wants. If our Father wants to turn a stone into something He can, never limit our Father to your own experiences. He can do greater things than we can ask or think and He will do it by His power that is now within us! Some may be filled right when they accept Jesus, some may be filled later, but the important thing is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The common ground is the Holy Spirit Himself first causing us to have a believing and accepting heart. We receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit, it is His actions empowering us, not our actions. If you don’t know if you have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, you haven’t! If you can’t testify of the exact moment when it happened, than you haven’t. I am not trying to be mean, but look at what Jesus said. “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:38-39
How can we have rivers of living water flowing from us and not know it? Our lives will be changed and as we read in the Book of Acts, when people were baptized with the Holy Ghost, supernatural things happened as a result of the act. They prophesied, they prayed in tongues, there were healings, mass conversions; power was always associated with the baptism of the Holy Ghost! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He changes not, so the same holds true today! “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6 The baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not an uneventful or uncertain event in our lives!
Be blessed, the Word of God is Truth, and the Truth will set us free, and our Father's Word will never fall void to the earth. The Holy Ghost is the power of our salvation and together we can walk in the fullness of Him. Together with Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, we can be used by our Father to heal the sick, save the lost, prophesy to the needs of the people, ask and receive, seek and find, and through the power of God all things are possible! The Anointing of the Holy Ghost allows God to be fully Who He is within us! We are born of Him, we’re His offspring, we are because He is, He willed us into life, and He chose us! We have passed from death unto life, and He has delivered us out of darkness and has placed us in His glorious Light. He has saved us to the uttermost, and with Him all things are possible. He is willing and able to do all that He has spoken, and He loves us every bit as much as He loves Jesus! You my brother and sisters are strong in the power of His might, and we are more than conquerors through Christ that loves us!
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