Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the last part of the jigsaw in being saved. We start with repentance, believing, water baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist baptised in water, but Jesus baptises in the Holy Spirit. This connection of becoming (one) is what God requires. He wants to fill your life with His Holy Spirit so you can be a witness of His love and power.

The word baptise means to plunge a solid into a liquid. Baptism consists of two things in and out and down and up. You go down into the water and come up out of the water. The Holy Spirit goes in and comes out.

To be born-again is (born out) of water and spirit, so this tells us there are two baptisms every believer needs. However, there is only one baptism a second birth whereby we enter into the covenant path that leads us to a lifetime of increasing faith through constant repentance (improvement) as we honour the covenant of our baptism by water by which our sins are remitted by following the Holy Spirit we receive through the baptism of fire.

Jesus said life eternal was to know God or the one true Lord. That requires us to find the one true faith or one set of beliefs that are all consistent with the one true Lord and to enter and follow the strait and narrow path of the new and everlasting covenant, with the one true Lord to be born again through the one of true baptism in water and spirit.

John draws a Parallelism between his own baptism of in-out of water and the in-out of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is often referred to as a liquid or living water that is poured out on you. He can come upon or fall upon and can be linked to a dove. The cloud is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit because clouds provide life-giving water. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit like a rushing wind or a vessel to the brim.

If a person is full to the brim of the spirit, then good works come out of their mouth. The signs of a Spirit-filled Christian are that he or she is obedient, happy, thankful, singing songs, increasingly does not sin and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is obvious in his or her life.

In Hebrew, the Holy Spirit is called Ruach Ha-Kodesh meaning breath or wind. When filled with the Holy Spirit it is possible to speak another language that we haven’t learnt, this is called the gift of tongues.

Each one of us was made to manifest the glory of God and host his presence. As we continue to seek more of God, honour the Holy Spirit, and surrender our hearts to him, staying continually filled and overflowing in the Holy Spirit will be a natural and everyday occurrence for us in life.

It is important for a person to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit in order to receive power from God to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires, so he can belong to Jesus Christ. Moreover, it is important to continue to be led by the Holy Spirit into all truth; then you can seek spiritual gifts as you sense a need for them, driven by Agape love:

Matthew 3:11
“I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

In all four gospels, it states that Jesus is the baptiser in the Holy Spirit. Humans are not meant to depend on human strength. He created humans to be power-assisted by Him as a purpose-driven church.

Our hearts are fireplaces for the Holy Spirit to blow out all the ash and trash away and flame the fire that we are made for. Fire provides a helpful picture of the work of the Holy Spirit as fire in three critical ways as He brings the presence of God, the passion of God, and the purity of God to believers.

Luke 6:47-49
“As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Don’t imagine being a believer will give you a storm-free passage in life. It will be rather the opposite, but it has to be built on a solid foundation the (Rock) Jesus Christ. Building on the Rock is hearing what He says and doing it. This will give us an earthly building that cannot be shaken.

Anything not built on the teaching of Jesus will be shaken.

There are people who believe that being filled with the Holy Spirit requires the person to speak in tongues this is not true.
The speaking of tongues is a gift of the spirit, not a fruit of the spirit.
It’s a very subtle but extremely important distinction.

Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law.

Gift of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 12:7-11
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another, the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another a gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kind of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”

1 Corinthians 12:27-30
“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?”

Conclusion

As you can see from 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, each of us is given different spiritual gifts, for the common good of all. But all our gifts come from the one and the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:30 confirms that (not all) will speak in tongues.
If you cannot speak in tongues, it does not mean you are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
It just means you do not have that particular gift.
That’s all.

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