Joseph Prince - How To Receive The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit
This excerpt is from: Baptism Of The Holy Spirit (24 Oct 2021)
Friend, listen. Once you are saved, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You cannot be saved without the Holy Spirit. That's how you are born again. So the Holy Spirit is there in you. But it is one thing for Him to be there in you, it's another thing for you to be in Him, baptized in Him. Immersed in Him. The word "baptized" in the Holy Spirit. You see, it's one thing for me to take a glass of water and I drink it, right? And the water is now in me. But it is another thing for me to jump into the swimming pool. Now I'm in the pool, I'm in the water. Immersed, submerged. The Greek word. Immersed. "Baptizo". Baptized. I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit. I'm immersed in the Holy Spirit. All that He is, I am in Him! Praise the Lord. Jesus actually said to the disciples in Acts 1, He actually says: "Do not go out just yet. Tarry in the city of Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father". Notice this phrase: "The Promise of the Father". The Promise means the definite article, one and only.
Now, God gave many promises to Israel in the Old Testament. There were many promises. But they all knew about the Promise of God. The Promise of the Father. And time and time again, through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and different ones. Haggai. God promised that He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. The prophet Joel and this is all under that one term, the definite article, the Promise of the Father. They all knew that it is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul says: "The reason Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law", listen carefully, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made a curse for us, as it is written. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through faith".
So all the blessings of God culminates in this. Definite article. The Promise of the Father. So Jesus said to them, and He didn't have to elaborate. "You guys know what is the Promise of the Father, right"? It seems like all the Jewish people knew and they were waiting for it. So Jesus says: "Stay in Jerusalem until you receive the Promise of the Father, 'which,'" He said, "'You have heard from Me.'" And you see, they knew it. The Holy Spirit is going to come. "For John, truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with" or in the Greek, "in the Holy Spirit, not many days from now". Now the disciples, when Jesus was raised from the dead, He was raised on the Feast of First Fruits on Resurrection Day. The Jews called it the Feast of First Fruits. Right? And it was on the same day when the disciples were born again. They received the Holy Spirit in the sense of, He indwelled them. But 50 days after that, on the day of Pentecost, they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And how do we know that they were baptized? They were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us: "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit". Now you could have stopped there, right? But no, it goes on to say: "And they began to speak with other tongues". And this is how it happens. That the Holy Spirit will put words in our mouth. We call it tongues, praise the Lord. And this is what the devil is so afraid of because the devil would try to say: "You know, those who speak in tongues, they are weird. Weird. They don’t understand what they are saying". And the devil wants you to stop speaking in tongues because He can't decipher your tongues. And there are those who say: "Well, those who speak in tongues on the Day of Pentecost, they are speaking known languages". Not to them. They are speaking a language that is not their mother tongue. They're speaking another language. Granted, there are speaking in tongues where you are speaking in a known language somewhere in this world, But it's not something that you studied, something that you grew up on, something that you know. It is a supernatural language. Praise God.
Who spoke? The Holy Spirit spoke? No, "they spoke". A lot of people misunderstand. When we talk about praying in tongues, they will say things like: "Well, I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit to speak through me, I'm waiting for…" No, read carefully. It doesn't say: "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues". It doesn't say that. It says: "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance". So the Holy Spirit gives you the utterance, but you have to say it out, you have to pray it out. You have to let those words come out of your mouth. Many a times, you pray for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and they are waiting. They are waiting. But God doesn't want you to be passive. When you are passive, you can actually yield yourself unwittingly to an evil spirit. Alright? Don't let your mind be passive. Don't let your being be passive. Amen. Alright?
So be active. Praise the Lord. When the Holy Spirit comes on you, God always… you know, the evil spirit, when it possesses you, it controls you, it drives you. It makes you do things you don't want to do, makes you imagine things, think things that you don't want to think. It makes you even say things that you don't want to say. It makes you feel things that you don't want to feel, and it drives you. It always drives. Drive, drive. The Bible says: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God". The Holy Spirit leads you. Amen. How do you lead a child? By the hand. Amen. For Him, He leads us by the heart. He leads us with the peace or the absence of peace. He never drives you. You start to speak. Amen. Like the things of God. Only when the priests who carried the ark at the River Jordan, only when your foot touches the River Jordan, God split that river. Not until the priests took a step of faith. Until they step, then God split that River Jordan. Okay? So the same thing, you've got to speak. They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Hallelujah. Amen.
We're going to pray for you at the end of this service, and I want you to receive this. I just want to encourage you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you have not yet experienced this, if you've experienced this somewhere in the past, all you need to do is just to start praying in the Spirit again. In the same book of Ephesians 5 before he talks about family relationships, wives, husbands. Amen. Children. He talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Let's look at this verse. "Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord". Now this word here: "Be filled with the Spirit" in the Greek is in the present passive, not active, but passive voice. Imperative. In other words, allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit constantly. Amen.
How do you do that? Be being filled. Be being! Present tense. Filled! Allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit constantly. How do you do that? Notice the comma, next verse tells you: "…speaking". Now this speaking is in the present active voice. In other words, your part, the active part is to start speaking. Every time in a day when you feel down, when you feel blah or you feel like you're under attack. Amen. Or you feel like you need God's intervention in something. Amen. You can pray the prayer, praise the Lord. You can just start to speak. And these are psalms. Hymns. Notice that gives you a cheerful heart. Amen. A cheerful heart, a happy heart, a merry heart. Praise the Lord. Amen. And spiritual songs. That's in tongues. Paul says: "I'll pray with understanding and I'll pray with the spirit". Amen. Very clear. The context there is talking about praying in tongues. Amen. Start speaking. Amen.
Let me pray for you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you have not yet received it. Praise the Lord. Amen. Stand to your feet right now, wherever you are. Now Jesus says: "When a child asks the father for bread, will the father give him a stone? If you asked for fish, will he give you a snake"? Of course not. "How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him"? That means don't be afraid. that you'll get a snake. That you'll get an evil spirit. When you ask the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you will not receive any other spirit. Let me pray this for you right now. Stand to your feet. Hallelujah. Amen. Remember this. It is a gift. A gift is just to be received by faith. Amen. So if that is you wherever you are right now, lift your hands. Amen. And say this after me:
Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You for Your promise that you will baptize me with the Holy Spirit and with power. So right now, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Father God, baptize me with the Holy Spirit to overflowing, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit right now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now friend, He's on you now. Praise the Lord. Don't struggle. Relax. Amen. And start to speak by faith. Praise the Lord. The Holy Spirit won't possess you and make you. He won't make you do anything. Amen. You've got to cooperate. Start speaking in tongues. Praise the Lord. Oh yes, go on. Go on! Praise the Lord. You see you can stop and start. Amen. It's all within your will. Okay? It is not something that is forced on you. It is at your will. Okay? You can stop. You can start again. You can sing in tongues. Stop. If you pray like this all day long and those rivers of power, love and sound mind will flow through you. And you're also making intercession to God. Amen. For things that you don't even know of. Amen. But the Holy Spirit knows. He knows exactly what the need is and He knows exactly how to supply. Praise the Lord.