The baptism in the Holy Spirit

Written by Reinhard Bonnke

download .pdf Holy Spirit baptism identifies Jesus. John the Baptist was sent to announce the Coming One, but nobody knew who John was talking about. He had to describe him, or the people would not have been able recognize him. He said, “It is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). His distinguishing feature would be that he would baptize in the Spirit. It distinguishes nobody else. Jesus alone is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit and fire. Nobody else can do it, give it or impart it. It is God’s own right and prerogative. The reason is that the baptism is not merely incoming power, but God himself, the Holy Spirit. Nobody can give God as if he were a commodity. The baptizer in the Spirit – that is Jesus. If the Church preaches Christ at all, that is who he is, forever. A Jesus who does not baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire is not truly the Bible Jesus. Nobody has the right to preach Christ other than the Bible Christ who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and he is “the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is the God of faithfulness, always true to himself, to us and to his promise. The apostles who were dragged before the arrogant authorities bore the impression of the Holy Spirit. Their unshakeable witness and confidence triggered astonishment. The Spirit is not just a surge within believers’ souls, but may show in body language – personality, ways, voice, eyes, in the fruit of the Spirit, attitudes people never suspect of themselves. Nothing is more off-putting than the put-on pose of a Holy Joe. Jesus intends his disciples to be witnesses, not controversialists. They should be witnesses of his resurrection. This message was vital, life changing and life-giving. Presented casually, coolly, in a “believe it, if you like manner” it would do nothing. It had to be preached as a glorious and vital fact, by people with some kind of a passion, not dispassionately, but by witnesses, obviously electrified by what they announced, examples of what they preached – very much alive. Jesus told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard me to speak about. In a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:4-5,8) Jesus made a great deal of that Someone, the Holy Spirit. What the Spirit of the Lord would do would be their making, turning them into torches. He would be – and still is – the key to effective witnessing. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5); we have to remain in the vine, deriving life from him. The life of the Spirit is the secret of new disciples. We can do a great deal without the Holy Spirit, but nothing of any lasting effect. That is the measure of the importance of the coming of the Holy Spirit. “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised” (Acts 1:4). Christ ascended to heaven and asked the Father to fulfill his promise, the sending of the Holy Spirit, and within 10 days he had come. The Spirit did not come quietly. He announced his arrival through the 120. He gave utterance to it through the assembled believers in tongues and prophecy. For the disciples and apostles this was their greatest day. The Holy Spirit is the love Spirit of Father and Son: “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5). That love began to move the believers and operate through them. What they became was what the Spirit made them. This baptism was for them as individuals, not “for the whole church.” Others, like the household of Cornelius received the Spirit for themselves. No word in the New Testament suggests that we do not need what the apostles had, or that what they had could be only for them. On the contrary, Peter’s message was clear: “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39). The disciples needed to be so endued and to preach the gospel with the Holy Spirit and with manifestation of the Almighty. Are we better than they, able to carry on God’s work without the empowerment they had? We surely need everything that God can give us, and the world needs people equipped like that. Today more than half a billion on earth know and enjoy it. It is startling to realise that Jesus actually left this world so that the Holy Spirit could come. “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you” (John 16:7). His coming to us is mysterious but real. After the resurrection the disciples, shaken and scared, hiding away for fear of what might happen to them, certainly needed that baptism and to be endued with power – and so do we. And God will give us what we need: “God will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). no change in the world makes the power of the spirit unnecessary. We have no alternative to the power of the Spirit, no method, manner, scheme or approach. The Spirit must do the work. The world still needs saving, still needs convincing, and it is impossible without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a sense of awe floating around old religious property. If the Spirit is to be manifested it is through Spirit-filled people. The message to believers is: “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). We would not need to be told to be filled if we could live without being filled. Jesus said we should ask, seek and knock for God gives the Spirit to people who ask (Luke 11:9-13). That does not mean a casual moment of asking, but being open to God at all times – askers, seekers, knockers. God will acknowledge those who stand ready for the blessing. He has given us his Word, and we must grasp his promise. To be filled we do what Jesus said – ask. That does not mean to make a leisurely request; asking, knocking, and seeking is a lifestyle. the holy spirit comes when he wants to those who are ready. We do not obtain the Holy Spirit like chocolate out of a machine, pull the lever and it is there. On the other hand, he does not mean us to ask for ever, always seeking but never finding. He who seeks finds (Luke 11:10) and they know when they have found what they were seeking. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is received by faith, but the evidence is signs following. Do all who receive the Holy Spirit speak in tongues? The general answer is a firm, “‘yes” – or would be, if everything in this world was perfect. God has no rules. What he does is what he can do, according to our faith. To say people can be baptized without tongues would not fit the New Testament very comfortably because every instance shows quite clearly that they all spoke in tongues. If people have absorbed fears about tongues, have had confused teaching, or for another – possibly subconscious – reason, the Spirit can be quenched, preventing him from doing everything he normally would, that is, to give signs. Some have faith for the Holy Spirit but not for tongues, so they are given in accordance with their faith. The crucial question for them is how do they know that they have been Spirit-filled without the evidence of being able to speak in tongues? It is so vital that we know we are Spirit-baptized if we are to go out and face the challenge of the godless world. With that knowledge we can dare to go forth and know he is with us. The disciples had that assurance. Can we do without it? They knew the Spirit was with them and therefore: “The disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it” (Mark 16:20). Holy Spirit ministry is attested by signs – if we believe. Utterance in tongues does not come by trying. You don’t “learn” how to speak in tongues. There is no technique, method, or even ministry. The Spirit is not given at the will of man, but is a sovereign act of God. This gift is not a talent, but God himself, the Spirit, not a power, or fire, but him. He is too awesome to be handled like plastic, dished out by glib over-sure arrogance. However, we can assist one another in prayer and by the laying on of hands as the apostles did in Samaria and Paul in Ephesus. Our attitude is to be humble and prepared. That is the lesson of Peter in the household of Cornelius – while he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on them all. Remember, it is not just power that enters our lives, but God Almighty in the person of the Holy Spirit. Yield to him afresh in prayer and expect God to fulfill his promise. The fire falls today just as it did on the believers in Acts 2. For tongues of fire to be lit on the head of every born-again Christian is still the Father’s will today. Reinhard Bonnke We suggest that you use the following prayer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Please take the time to read the scriptures below carefully. Then start by praying the following prayer, and continue praying with your own words. Dear Lord Jesus, You are the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. I ask You to fill me with Your Holy Spirit – to baptize me in Your Spirit – just like You promised me in John 14:16-19 and in Acts 1:4-8. The first disciples experienced it at Pentecost, as have millions of Christians ever since. I now allow the Holy Spirit to flow through me, as it has been promised in the Scriptures. Please use my voice. Lord Jesus, let the Fruit of the Spirit grow within me, so that my life will bear witness of You. Let my words glorify You. Take my whole life, I completely surrender to You. Amen.