Derek Prince - Is the Baptism in the Spirit a Goal?
In our last session we spoke about the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the supernatural seal of speaking with other tongues. I believe that in the purposes of God, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is intended to be merely a doorway. There has been discussion in the Pentecostal movement in past years as to whether it was a goal or a gateway.
And there was a time when some Pentecostals took the attitude, “Well, I’m saved, I’m baptized in water, I’m baptized in the Holy Spirit. I speak in tongues, I’ve arrived.” Unfortunately, that’s incorrect and people who think they’ve arrived have just dropped out, that’s all. The baptism is not a goal, it is a gateway. It’s not the termination, it’s the starting point of a life lived in supernatural power. I believe that normally, in most people’s experience, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the doorway to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit and to many other forms of supernatural experience.
I believe it is impossible to live the Christian life to the full on the plane of the natural. It is permeated with the supernatural. Every chapter in the book of Acts (and there are 28) contains descriptions of events that are totally supernatural. The book of Acts is the only official record we have of what the Lord intended the church to be.
So, going on from the baptism I want to deal in this session and the next with the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. I’ll begin, I think, by just reading the list which is found in 1 Corinthians 12:8–10. If you check, you’ll find there are nine gifts. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit; to another, the word of knowledge through the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, gifts of healings by the same Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, different kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues.