How to be filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit – By Terry Smith
Table of Contents – Chapters
I – Have You Received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?
This section teaches, from the life of Jesus, the disciples and the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul, that there is an empowering with the Holy Spirit and his gifts for every believer.
II – Why Tongues?
This section answers the questions: “Why does God in his word associate speaking in tongues with the baptism in the Holy Spirit?” “What is speaking in tongues and what is its purpose?” “Can all believers speak in tongues?” “Is there a ministry of speaking in tongues?”
III – How to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
This section teaches the simple and Biblical instructions that are necessary to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
IV – Prayer to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
This section leads you in a prayer to receive the Spirit’s empowering.
V – Resource and Contact Information
This section lists recommended books, booklets and workbooks to help you learn more about the Holy Spirit and his gifts; it also lists the contact information for the author of this booklet.
© October, 2009 by Terry Smith
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quoted in this booklet is from the NASB.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), Copyright (C) 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible(R),Copyright (C)
1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
I – Have You Received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?
In 1970, when I first began to follow the Lord, I was essentially taught that I had received “the promise of the Holy Spirit” when I had accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. To then stay filled with the Spirit I was taught that I needed to “breathe spiritually” by:
- Exhaling the “bad” – immediately turn form sin, confess it to God and receive forgiveness;
- Inhaling the “good” – yield control of my heart and life to God, and then ask for and receive by faith the re-filling of the Holy Spirit to control and empower me.
This teaching helped me to yield my will to God and to “tune” my heart to Him. For perhaps two years I prayed in this format as a way of staying close to God, and I am very grateful for the godly examples, teaching and caring oversight that I received from my mentors. But, what neither I nor my teachers realized was that Scripture teaches that there is an experience for the believer of being “baptized in the Spirit” after he has initially been “born of the Spirit” (when he first received Christ and his Spirit within him). In this baptism in the Spirit, the presence, power and love of God is freely poured out on the believer, he is filled within, and then there is a supernatural outflow of life, spiritual gifts and power. There are many examples and pictures of this “baptism” in the Bible. Let’s look at a few of them.
First of all, we see that there was a definite moment in the life of Jesus when the Holy Spirit came upon him and he was filled and empowered with the presence of God. This happened right after he was water baptized by John the Baptist:
Now it came about when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordon. And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. (Luke 3:21,22 & 4:1,14)
Before this experience Jesus had the Spirit (who is his own Spirit) within him. But, although he never had to be “born again” (like the rest of us) to be initially indwelt by the Spirit, he still had his own experience of the Spirit coming upon him, filling and empowering him. And it was only after this experience that he began to preach and teach with power and authority, heal the sick and cast out demons. The Spirit had come upon him, he was filled, and there was an outflow of life and power.
The next example is from the experience of the disciples. After Jesus born our sins on the cross and rose from the dead, he appeared to them:
He himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. (Luke 24:36-40)
The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:20-22)
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. (From a parallel reading of the same account in Luke 24:45)
Here we see that the disciples encountered and believed in the risen Lord Jesus, and that he himself breathed his own resurrection Life and Spirit into them. At that moment they were “born again”, born of the Spirit of God. Because the Holy Spirit was now in them, their minds were now opened to understand the Scriptures, and he proceeded to instruct them:
“Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:46-49)
He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” he said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4,5)
Although these disciples were now born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they were not to begin preaching until they received “the promise of the Father,” were “clothed with power” and “baptized with the Holy Spirit.” They were to receive the same empowering experience that their Master had received when he began his ministry. Acts 2:1-4 records their baptism with the Holy Spirit:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Fire from heaven came upon them, they were all filled within, and there was a supernatural overflow as they all began “speaking with other tongues” as the Spirit gave them the words and the ability to do so. It was a direct fulfillment of the truth taught by Jesus:
“The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” (Matthew 12:34)
This speaking with other tongues (that is, supernaturally speaking in languages they had never learned) was not directed out to bystanders in the form of preaching – it was direct praise to God, extolling him and “speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” (Acts 2:11) Others in Jerusalem heard the roar of the rushing wind and the loud, united voices in uninhibited praise, and they came to see what was happening. Peter stood up and addressed the crowd that had gathered:
“Repent, and each of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” (Acts 2:38,39)
This promise from God is two-fold. First, it is the promise of being forgiven of your sins. Many believers have never been instructed that there is more, so they stop there and then sincerely seek to follow the Lord, love him and serve him. This heart devotion to Christ is the joy of his heart, and is received by him as his reward for his suffering, but he wants us to go on and receive the second part of his promise: be baptized with the Holy Spirit, with the overflow of speaking in other tongues, with the release of the gifts and supernatural presence of God. His suffering and blood has purchased our forgiveness and the empowerment with the Spirit. This supernatural empowerment is for every believer. Jesus himself said,
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses…These signs will accompany those who have believed in Me: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues.” (Acts 1:8 & Mark 16:17)
The third example is taken from the life of the apostle Paul as seen in Acts 9:1-18. At this point in Acts he was still referred to by his Hebrew name of Saul. His conversion and infilling with the Holy Spirit are recorded as follows:
It came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city and it shall be told you what you must do.”
And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing… And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
The Lord then spoke in a vision to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias and told him,
“Arise and go to the street called Straight and enquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”
And Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he arose and was baptized. (Acts 9:3,4,5,11,12,17,18)
From these verses it is evident that:
- Saul discovered that Jesus was indeed the Messiah who was very much alive and raised from the dead;
- For three days he was unable to see, and he spent the time fasting and praying, connecting with his newly discovered Lord.
- During this time of prayer and communication with the Lord, the Lord showed him that someone would come and lay hands on him to regain his sight.
- He believed in Jesus and confessed him as Lord;
- He regained his sight when hands were laid on him;
- He was baptized in water;
- He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
From these verses we see that after Paul believed in Christ, the Lord Jesus directed a disciple to minister to him to regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Although it is not recorded in Acts that Paul spoke in tongues when he was filled with the Spirit, we do find Paul saying 1 Corinthians 14:18,
“I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all.”
Paul’s experience followed the same pattern of the original disciples at Pentecost: there was a distinct time when the empowerment of the Holy Spirit came upon him, he was filled within, and there was an outflow of tongues and other spiritual gifts.
The last example is taken from Paul’s ministry as it is recorded later in Acts 19:1-7. Paul had just come to the city of Ephesus and found some disciples there. His first question to them was,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
When Paul had his initial encounter with the Lord, Jesus himself directed that he receive laying on of hands to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this was the question that Paul, as a wise minister of the gospel, asked of those who confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior. From the ensuing dialog we see that these disciples in Ephesus had learned of Jesus from John the Baptist. Thus, they had repented of their sins, were baptized in water as a sign of their repentance, and had committed themselves to believe in Jesus. But they knew nothing of a separate, distinct experience of receiving the infilling and empowering of the Holy Spirit. They honestly replied to Paul,
“No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
At this point Paul instructed them as to what Christ had accomplished for them in his death and resurrection, and of the need to receive the baptism in the Spirit. The result?
“When they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (indicating that their old person and life were buried with Christ, and that they were now raised with him as “born-again new creations”). And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.” (Acts 19:5,6)
Again, we see the same pattern. The believer is to receive more than the promise of forgiveness of sins – he is to be instructed so that:
- He receives by faith the baptism with the Spirit, and
- He yields himself to the outflow of Holy Spirit-inspired tongues and other gifts.
While many passages from Scripture could easily be given to show this same truth, these four examples from Jesus, the first disciples and the life and ministry of Paul establish the reality of his promise to us:
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in
Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
II – Why Tongues?
Why does God in his word associate speaking in tongues with the baptism in the Holy Spirit? What is speaking in tongues? What is the purpose of speaking in tongues? Can all believers speak in tongues? As an illustration that will help us see why God associates tongues with the baptism of the Spirit, let’s look at some words by King David that wonderfully picture this Spirit-baptism:
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. You (my Shepherd) have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:1&5)
As one loving aspect of how the divine Shepherd meets all of the believer’s needs, we see the Lord pictured as pouring the oil of the Holy Spirit out on the believer, the cup of the believer’s heart being filled, and then the oil overflowing in supernatural manifestations of life and power. From the Book of Acts, and from personal experience, we see that speaking in tongues is normally the first supernatural manifestation that shows up in the overflow! This is because of two reasons:
- We have already seen the spiritual truth that Jesus stated in Matthew 12:34 – “The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” The mouth is the overflow valve for the heart. The mouth will speak out of the same substance and nature that fills the heart. Therefore, supernatural power in the heart results in supernatural words in the mouth. That’s just simply the way it works.
- Perhaps of more importance is the truth that speaking in tongues is a supernatural love-gift from the Lord our Shepherd that enables us to commune directly with him and have our needs met by him. The manifestation of God’s love and care in behalf of his child is extremely high on his priority list – it is the passion and the burning fire of the Father’s heart for us. Because of God’s love for us, the gift of tongues is there to immediately flow out of the baptism in the Spirit and be expressed. It is part of the “cup overflowing” in Psalm 23. It is a supernatural way for us to pray and commune with him so that God can answer our prayers and fulfill his desire to meet all of our needs.
To sum it up we could say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. In order to meet all of my needs, You have anointed my head with the oil of the Holy Spirit, and my mouth supernaturally speaks and prays out of that which fills my heart.”
This praying and speaking to God in a language that one has never learned is definitely supernatural! It is something beyond the ability of the will or the mind of man to produce. It is the result of the Holy Spirit’s presence and it is his work.
On separate occasions persons have understood what I was saying when I spoke in Russian and Swahili as I spoke in tongues. My wife has been heard to speak in French and Swahili. At the time that we were speaking and praying in tongues, neither one of us had any idea of what we were saying, or in what language we were speaking.
These words of “tongues” are from real languages, and they are not foolish, child-like gibberish or emotional gushings of ecstasy. They are real, intelligent, spiritual and perfectly appropriate words that are given by the Holy Spirit. They are freely given in this baptism, but the believer must yield his vocal cords and his tongue to God and speak them out. The Holy Spirit does not “wildly possess” the believer and make him speak in tongues. The Holy Spirit gives the ability to speak the words, but how and when they are spoken is under the believer’s control:
- The believer may speak or sing in tongues – “I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind. I shall sing with the spirit and I shall sing with the mind also.” (1 Corinthians 14:14)
- He may speak in tongues aloud or whisper to himself and to God – “If there is no interpreter present (in the meeting), let him (who wants to pray in tongues) keep silent in the church, and let him speak (in tongues) to himself and to God. (1 Corinthians 14:28)
When a believer is speaking in tongues, his own born-again, Spirit-filled spirit is speaking directly to God. Unless God gives him an interpretation of what he saying, he does not understand with his mind what he is praying. Nevertheless, his spirit is enabled by the Holy Spirit to connect directly with God and thus bypass the “bottle neck” of the mind.
In speaking in tongues the mind does not override the spirit of the believer. Instead, the mind rests, focused on the Lord himself, or even on the task at hand, while the believer’s spirit is free to enter and operate in the presence of God without mental limitations. Look at the following scriptures taken from the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:
One who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. (1 Corinthians 14:2)
If I pray in a tongue my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I shall pray with the spirit (that is, praying in tongues) and I shall pray with the mind also (that is, praying in a language that is understood by the mind, which would be English for most Americans); I shall sing with the spirit (you can sing in tongues) and I shall sing with the mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:14,15)
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. (1 Corinthians 14:4)
Your spirit longs to fellowship with the Father and to express the desires and needs of your heart directly and fully to him. In speaking in tongues your spirit is released to do this. As you fellowship with God and worship him through speaking in tongues, you are built up, refreshed and recharged with his presence and power.
As for other uses, speaking in tongues may also be used in praying for others. You may speak in tongues when you want to “put up your spiritual antenna” and connect with God. You may speak in tongues when you want to quiet yourself before him, sense his direction and hear his “voice.” If you will spend time speaking in tongues, the Holy Spirit will be able to pray through you and deal with things that you are not able to deal with in your own understanding or strength. He will help you if you will yield yourself to him and let him do it.
At Pentecost, where the first disciples were baptized in the Spirit, they “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues.” (Acts 2:4) This usage of tongues, as an outflow of the Holy Spirit for personal praise, worship, intercession, edification and sensitivity to God, is for every believer. All believers may be filled and speak in tongues. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” (Acts 2:39)
There is another use of tongues which falls into another category. Some believers are called by God and prompted by the Spirit to speak aloud in tongues in the meetings of the church. Then the same Spirit will give that person or another believer the interpretation of what was spoken in tongues. These manifestations of the Spirit bring life and the words of God’s heart into the meetings.
When a believer, in a meeting, speaks aloud in tongues, and it is then followed by an interpretation, it is equivalent to prophecy.
Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. And greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying. (1Corinthians 14:5)
In prophecy (and in tongues with interpretation), God is “on the spot” inspiring a message and speaking, through the believer, to men. It is “God speaking to men.” When tongues are used in this way it is different from the individual use of tongues where the believer “does not speak to men, but to God.” (1 Corinthians 14:2) Study the chart on the next page to see the differences in these two uses of tongues.
Some believers actually have a ministry of speaking in tongues aloud in the church meetings. This is an ordained ministry, just as being a pastor, a teacher or an evangelist is a God-given ministry position and office. In the church, that is, in the relationship of believers to each other, under the Headship of Christ, all do not have the ministry office of speaking in tongues. Concerning set offices and ministries in the church, the Holy Spirit says in 1 Corinthians 12:28-30:
And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. (Notice that these are all offices set by God in the church.) All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?
The prophets, tongues and interpretation listed here are ministries of “God speaking to man.” While these offices are not open to every believer, all may still “be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues” unto the Lord for their own personal worship, intercession and edification.
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Questions |
Personal Use of Tongues |
Public Use of Tongues |
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Who is speaking to whom? |
Man speaking to God. |
God speaking to man, made clear through the gift of interpretation. |
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For what purpose? |
For personal prayer and communion with God (praise, worship, intercession, edification, sensitivity to God). |
When followed by interpretation, it is equivalent to prophecy. |
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What are the effects? |
The believer is edified, refreshed, recharged; he is “plugged in” to the realm of revelation and life as the Holy Spirit flows through him as he speaks in tongues. |
As the Spirit-inspired tongue and interpretation is given, life and revelation flow out to the congregation. It is God in the midst of his people, speaking to them to edify, exhort and comfort. |
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When can it be done? |
An individual may, with consideration to those around him, use tongues at anytime; he does not need a special leading from the Lord to use his “prayer language”. |
When manifested as “God speaking to man”, it must be done when the Spirit leads a believer to do so; then there will be a Spirit-inspired interpretation, and it will carry the Spirit’s anointing and life. |
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Who can manifest this use of tongues? |
The baptism in the Holy Spirit and the personal, private use of tongues is for every believer. |
Any Spirit-baptized believer may, at times, be led to speak aloud in tongues in a public meeting. But, the regular, consistent ministry of speaking in tongues (in public meetings) is only for those who are placed in that “office” by the Lord. |
II – How to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
To help you receive the baptism in the Spirit, I’m going to give you five simple but important truths from God’s word that you need to understand and act upon.
1.) The first of these is the fact that Jesus himself is the Baptizer! John, who baptized in water, said this about Jesus:
“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11)
This is the first requirement – you must come to Jesus himself for him to baptize you with his Spirit. Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37)
2.) This scripture in John 7:37 also gives us the second requirement for being baptized in the Spirit – you must be thirsty. You must be thirsty for the presence of God in the same way a dry and thirsty man desires water. Entertainment and games will not satisfy a man who is thirsty for water, and neither will the things of this world nor empty religious activities satisfy the one who is thirsty for God. If you are thirsty, then God has a promise just for you:
“I will pour out water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit.” (Isaiah 44:3)
3.) The third requirement is that you must ask for the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught this in Luke 11:13:
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Sometimes, because of wrong teaching concerning the baptism and gifts of the Spirit, some believers are afraid to ask Jesus to baptize them in the Holy Spirit. They are afraid that they will open themselves up to something bad. But Jesus has already addressed this issue in Luke 11:11,12:
“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?”
In seeking to be baptized in the Spirit, you are not “putting your feelers out into the spirit-realm” to seek some spiritual experience. In asking for the baptism, you are being obedient by coming directly to the Lord himself to receive what he in his love has already promised you. As you come to him and act on his word, God will not give you something harmful, strange or bad. You need the wonderful overflowing presence of the Holy Spirit, and he will give you what you need – the Holy Spirit!
4.) The next requirement is that you must ask in faith for this baptism. Faith comes to the heart as you hear his word and realize that his promise is personally for you. Again, in Luke 11 (verses 9 & 10) Jesus taught,
“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.”
Jesus taught these words in the context of asking for the Holy Spirit. Everyone, including you, is given the Holy Spirit when he asks for him. God loves you, and he wants this for you more than you do. You can put your trust in his love, faithfulness and ability.
In other places in God’s word (Mark 11:24, 2 Corinthians 5:7 & Hebrews 11:6), we find faith explained in these statements:
All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you. For we walk by faith and not by sight. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
5.) The last truth that you need to understand is that, after you have asked for and have received the Holy Spirit by faith in his word, you must then yield yourself, your vocal cords and your tongue to God and begin to speak. He gives you the ability to speak in tongues, but you must yield and speak the words.
Speaking in tongues is not the baptism in the Spirit. First, you receive the Spirit by hearing the promise in God’s word and then acting on it in faith. Paul empathized receiving the Spirit by faith in Galatians 3:2:
Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
When you ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit, use your faith by thanking him for giving you the Holy Spirit. “Drink” his Spirit by resting in his love, opening yourself to him, and believing that he is now pouring in his Spirit. Do not worry or be anxious; you are his child and he loves to be with you, cover you with his presence and fill you. Then, when you have thanked the Lord for filling you with the Holy Spirit, yield your vocal cords and tongue to him and begin to speak.
Present yourselves to God as those who are risen from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (Romans 6:13)
He is faithful to fill you, and the supernatural words will be there. Speak the words aloud, and continue to speak them for some time.
Please realize that the Holy Spirit often chooses to move in ways that are gentle and quiet. When he does this, it is still his supernatural overflow, even if, at the moment, it does not seem to be spectacular. When I first began to speak in tongues it felt like I was speaking. Well, I was speaking. He had somehow given me a new whole language that I had never learned, and I was quietly choosing to speak it by acting in faith!
Every miracle has two sides to it, the divine and the human. When Jesus was walking on the water, he called Peter to get out of the boat and come to him on the water. By simple, child-like faith in the words of Christ, Peter got up, climbed over the side of the boat and stepped out on the water. Then, after he had done his part, God did his – God somehow sustained Peter and enabled him to walk on the water and supernaturally be with Jesus. God will do the same thing for you as you act on your faith.
Let’s summarize what we said about receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit:
- Come thirsty to Jesus the Baptizer, and simply ask him to baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
- Like Peter, step out in your own simple, child-like faith.
- To do this, thank the Lord for giving you the Holy Spirit, and then yield your vocal cords and tongue to him and begin to speak whatever words the Holy Spirit gives you. In faith, speak them out loud to the Lord.
You may receive the baptism in the Spirit through your own faith when you are alone with the Lord. Or, you may receive as another believer lays hands on you and prays for you. Jesus is the Baptizer, but it is often helpful to have the faith and encouragement of other Spirit-filled believers praying with you.
The prayer on the next page can be used to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Read it through to yourself first – you may find that the words help you to express the hunger, thirst and faith of your own heart. You can use this prayer and add your own words as you talk to the Lord Jesus, or you may choose to use only your own words. Either way, come to Jesus – he is calling you and welcoming you – and receive his promise!
IV – Prayer to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Lord Jesus,
I love You and everything about You!
Thank You for paying for my sins with Your own blood.
I belong to You, for I have been bought by You.
I present myself to You, and I yield my inner self and the members of my body to You.
Come, baptize me in Your Spirit! I am thirsty for Your presence!
I want Your will and everything that You have for me! Through Your Spirit, impart to me the spiritual gifts that You now want to give me.
I thank You for covering me with Your presence, and for pouring Your Spirit into me. I receive him by faith.
Holy Spirit, You are welcome!
I now yield my vocal cords and tongue to You, Lord Jesus, and speak to You the words that Your Spirit gives me.
V – Resources and Contact Information
The following recommended books will help you to learn more about the Holy Spirit and his gifts. You can find these books on Amazon.com –
Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptism, by Don Basham
Handbook on Tongues, Interpretation and Prophecy, by Don Basham
Nine O’Clock in the Morning, by Dennis Bennett
The Holy Spirit and You, by Dennis and Rita Bennett
How to Pray for the Release of the Holy Spirit, by Dennis Bennett
Concerning Spiritual Gifts, by Kenneth Hagin
How to Receive the Holy Spirit, by Kenneth Hagin
The Holy Spirit and His Gifts, by Kenneth Hagin
The Upper Room, by Kenneth Hagin
Good Morning, Holy Spirit, by Benny Hinn
The Hidden Power of Praying in Tongues, by Mahesh Chavda
They Shall Speak With Other Tongues, by John Sherrill