The Baptism of The Holy Spirit
There's a division in the body of Christ. I bet that you were already on one side or the other of this chasm, without even knowing it. I'm referring to the topic of the baptism of The Holy Spirit. Up until about 8 months ago I had never even heard of it. Whether you have or have not, I feel that it's very important for all of us as members of the One Body to take a closer look at this issue.
One of the reasons I became so curious about this subject to begin with was because of the deep divide that exists between the different denominations within Christianity. A rift in the Body of Christ is an automatic red flag to me. We are told numerous times in the New Testament that we have all received One Spirit and therefore should be of One Mind.
Another red flag is the nature of what is being disputed. If you've ever researched anything biblical you'll see that there are a number of different interpretations on all sorts of topics. My bible (NKJV) lists at least 8 different "theories" regarding the book of Revelation and end time prophesy. For some reason, this particular difference of opinion struck me as unusual.
Before I go any further, I'd like to put the cart before the horse and tell you why I believe it's so important for Christians to earnestly seek the truth about this issue. I preface this entire writing by saying that I am still seeking understanding on this from God. I have a very good idea of what I think He has been showing me, but would not claim in any way to be an expert on the subject or that my thoughts are the end all and be all. At best, I hope to inspire some thought and conversation about this, and get others thinking about their stance and the implications that come with it.
The Holy Spirit is the Helper that Jesus sent to be with us during these "end times". The New Testament tells us that we have been sealed by the indwelt Holy Spirit. He is our down payment, or promise that the work God has begun in us will be continued until the day that Jesus returns for His bride. It is by the power of The Holy Spirit that we are transformed, from glory to glory, into the image of Jesus. I feel almost frustrated right now because I can't possibly convey or relate to you all of the things there is to be said about the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, hearts, and minds. There are many excellent books and resources available if you are interested in learning more about Him, but for the sake of the subject at hand I'll continue on with the point.
Just as to us, Jesus is everything, The Holy Spirit is also everything. Without Him (just as with the Father and Son) we'd be totally bankrupt. The Holy Spirit's coming was so important that Jesus actually said it was better for us that He left so that The Helper (Holy Spirit) could come. It was the last thing that Jesus said to His disciples before He ascended to Heaven.
The last thing....
Jesus is about to leave the earth. His disciples are a bunch of ramshackle, rough around the edges, mostly blue collar workers, who always misunderstand Him and miss the point. Peter is prone to compulsive outbursts, Thomas won't believe anything you tell him, John is a teacher's pet. I'm not so sure if I'd leave this bunch unattended to assemble a bookshelf (in their defense, I wouldn't leave myself alone to try and follow instructions like that either).
Not only is Jesus leaving them, but He's leaving them in charge of His church. The Son of God becomes flesh, forfeits His rights as the God that He is and humbles Himself to become a fish and live in the fish bowl as one of us. He endures exhaustion, hunger, betrayal, the fickle acceptance of the crowds. He does miracle after miracle, heals and raises from the dead. He lets Himself be taken captive and humiliated, falsely accused, beaten, spit on, abandoned. Jesus practically drives the nails into His own flesh......for one purpose. EVERYTHING He has done has been for this one thing. His Passion, His Purpose, His inheritance, is us. Listen as Jesus talks to the God
"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." John 17:24
"For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him." John 17:2
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3
To say the disciple's task is important is an understatement. Since the fall of man, the whole plan has been to restore us to eternal life.
So here we are, standing on Mt. Olivet with the risen Lord just before He ascends to the right hand of The Father. I imagine this scene to feel something like leaving my kids at daycare when they were little.
I'm about to leave for work, and I can see the tears welling up in their eyes. Olivia, the oldest, tries to hold it together. She doesn't want anyone to know she's scared and sad and feeling abandoned by me. Makayla, the little one, is now clinging to my leg asking in broken sentences, "Mommy, why you can't stay? You no go to work today." My heart is wrenching. I want nothing more than to scoop them up, put them back in the car and take them with me, but I can't.....I have to go to work. It's going to be better in the long run for them if I go, because that will mean that we can continue having electricity and chicken nuggets. I know that they don't understand right now, and I also know that while seperated from me, the skills they learn will be instrumental in their growth and will help prepare them for all that is to come in life.
I kneel down and wrap my arms around both of them, pulling them in close. And I look each of them in their little eyes, full to the rim with uncried tears, and I say, "I know you don't want me to leave. I wish I could take you home and snuggle all day, but I have to go to work. It's only for a little while and then I'll be back to get you, and I promise, when we get home, we'll eat pizza and lay in Mommy's bed together, ok?" (Sniffs and snorts) "OK." they answer.
"Now, while I'm gone I want you to hold on tight to your lovies (this is what we called their favorite stuffed animal of the moment. They rarely go anywhere without one, but they insist they've gotten too old to call them this anymore. Now, it's just toys.) and whenever you feel sad or start missing me just give your lovey a big hug and kiss and I'll be able to feel it all the way at work."
I tell them how much I love them, squeeze them both as tight as I can, and a million glances back on my way to the door, waving and blowing kisses.
Did you know that this is how Jesus loves you? Only, Jesus didn't just leave you a warm fuzzy stuffed animal to self soothe with, He left you His Spirit. How many times have you wished you could send your Spirit to go with your children when they are away from you? To be able to guide them, empower them, influence and comfort them in your absence? This is exactly what Jesus has done.
The most important thing to Jesus is the ones the Father has given to Him and bringing ALL of them safely home. We are His children. And the disciples have been given the privelege, the responsibility to search the globe and share this good news with the rest of us. It's the very first "No child left behind" initiative. The beautiful part is that even though his fesh is leaving them, He's not. They aren't alone, and neither are we.
This mission that has been given to the disciples, is it not the same commision that is also given to us? Once we are saved, once we accept our boarding pass to return home, is it not also our privelege, our responsibility to share this good news with every other brother and sister we meet? Even the ones who don't know yet that they belong to Him? Then why would it be that Jesus wouldn't give us the same tools, the same power, that He gave to them?
The argument that this endowment was strictly for the early church just doesn't seem to stick for me. The disciples and early church lived in treturous times, yes. They were persecuted, they faced grave danger and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. They were reaching out to a cold and hardened people, who desperately needed a cure but didn't believe they were even ill.
But, that's the same world we find ourselves in today. Sure, in America things may not seem so bad. We have freedom of religion. We can go to church every time the doors are open and don't have to fear being captured or killed for it.....right? What about the two ministers who were shot inside their own church a few weeks ago in front of their congregation? What about the subtle pervasive movement sweeping through our contry to remove God from our schools and off our money and out of our governemt? Or how about the judge in Alabama who was forced to remove the ten commandments from his courtroom? How would you clasify the numerous allegations of sexual abuse streaming from the Catholic church? Just because the enemy has disguised himself in a sheep outfit doesn't make him a sheep, and it doesn't mean we aren't under attack.
When was the last time you payed attention to God's church in the rest of the world? Christians are dying for their faith all over the globe; being taken captive and tortured in an effort to make them renounce their beliefs.
The bible tells us that in the "end times" apostacy and evil will become pervasive and grow. It also tells us that these "end times" are the time period spanning from Jesus' ascension until the day He returns. We live in a world at war, and as the battle intensifies and the end nears we are becoming more and more at risk.
The only life line we have is our connection to The Father. The only hope we have of making it out alive is the promise He has sealed us with, and the only chance we have to help save others is the power that Jesus has made available.
There is also a 3rd group of believers in this matter. They believe that this baptism happens at the moment of conversion. They may not totally disagree with the concept but they do not believe that it is a seperate, distinct event. This group's constituents may or may not believe in the continuance of the gift of speaking in tongues and the other "charismatic" manifestations.
Ok, now after all this, let me share with you where my belief falls on this spectrum. If you look at all the scripture concerning the baptism of The Holy Spirit as a whole, you find that different people had different experiences. Some people received the baptism the moment they believed (at conversion), some during their water baptism, some directly following water baptism with the accompanied laying on of hands and prayer. Some received it directly proceeding their water baptism. The disciples, previously born again, did not receive it until the day of Pentacost.
When I took a poll of the people I knew who said that they too had experienced this fullness, I found that their experiencs paralleled those of the believers in the bible. Different times, different places, at different stages in their Christian walk. No two experiences were the same. Some of these people spoke in tongues right away, some didn't for several months or even years. Several of them said that at the moment they prayed to receive the Spirit's fullness, they experienced nothing out of the ordinary at all. Only later did they begin to have an increased hunger and thirst for the things of God and began to desire to talk about Him more, talk to Him more, and moved to do more for others in His name.
In fact, this is much like my own experience. I prayed to receive the Holy Spirit Baptism, telling God that I wasn't sure that it was available to me, but that if it was, if there was more power, more help, more of Him and less of me, then I wanted it, or rather I wanted to want it. Before I prayed for this, God had been drawing me closer to Him. I was beginning to actually want to read scripture and becoming more curious about things that concerned Him. I was still having a hard time with my flesh. I couldn't make myself want to obey Him, want to live as He called me to live, but I had reached the point where I wanted to want it. I believed in my heart that His way was better, that it would make me really truely happy, but I couldn't make myself actually love His way.
I had reached the end of myself; the end of my rope; the end of my ability to make progress; and I layed it all down at His feet. I'd been studying about desire, and I made a list of the desires I wanted to have and the ones I wanted gone. I put the list in my biblle and prayed about the list whenever it came to mind. I had done what I could do.
Shortly after my prayer for the baptism of The Holy Spirit, I began to notice a definite change in me. The things I used to find enjoyment in, I now saw them the way God did. I recognized them for the imposters they were and a new desire began to bloom. I hungered and thirsted for more of God. More of His presence, to learn more, to hear Him more, to love and worship Him more and please Him more. But not because I thought doing these things would put a check mark on the board in my favor.... simply because I loved Him more, and His heart began to matter to me in a way it never had before.
I cared more about sharing Him with others than I did of what people would think. I find myself in a state of rest almost all of the time now. Not necessarily physical rest (my kids still expect to eat atleast 3 times a day, and laundry must get done because they still wont let kids go to school in p.j's) but a mental emotional rest. I'm not drug around by my emotions anymore. More of God, more of The Holy Spirit, and more of Jesus is like having God's love and truth, peace and mindset poured into you. It can't help but come out.
I believe that this encounter with The Holy Spirit can happen at any time in our walk with God. The bible tells us to be continually filled with The Holy Spirit. I think it can happen more than once. Just as God gives us more responsibility as we grow in Him and our character is proven by trial, I believe He also pours out The Spirit as we need, if we are seeking Him and if we are willing to accept Him. It's a choice of free will as to wether or not we allow The Holy Spirit to enter into our hearts and minds and continue His work of making us more like Christ.
I also believe that God gives the spiritual gifts as He sees fit. I have not spoken in tongues, or healed the sick, or cast out demons........yet. But I know that if The Lord places me in that situation and The Spirit leads me to, then I will have all of the power and authority available to me to accomplish what He has willed for me to do.
It's important to remember that a relationship with God is not about the experience. The feeling you may get from an an ecounter with The Holy Spirit is not the point. You speaking in tongues or healing the sick is also not the point. These may be things that God leads you to do, but they aren't the reason behind it all. It's all about a minute to mintue, hour by hour walk with Him. God isn't a vending machine that you run to to get what you need and then run off to accomplish your mission. The gifts are just that, a gift, from a Father who loves you more than you could ever know. The gift without the relationship with the giver becomes just another thing to posess.
However it happens, whenever it happens; No matter what you want to call it, or what your current doctrinal beliefs are......we all need to take this matter before the throne and ask our Father for ourselves, "Is this real?" Especially if you aren't experiencing the real fruit of a life infused by Christ. If you struggle with your flesh or find it difficult to stay focused on or even feel like focusing on Him, tell Him. He knows already anyway, He's just waiting for you to come talk to Him about it so He can fix it.
God's design for each of us is to live in the victory that Jesus died to bring us. If your not seeing the fruit of that in your life, in your heart....then something is snagged, and only He can fix it.
If this Baptism of The Holy Spirit is real and is available then we have the right, the privilege and the responsibility to seek the truth and lay hold of it.
What if the only thing that stands in the church's way of being totally sold out for God, reaching the lost, spreading the Word and being transformed radically is receiving more of The Holy Spirit? And what if we reject it because our denomination says it doesn't exist, or we are so worried about what people would think or say if we were to speak in tongues (or God forbid, cast out a demon or heal the sick)?
Are we really prepared to say that this doesn't happen anymore? Are we ready to say that all of these Christians living today experiencing these signs and wonders are faking it, or even worse, receiving their power from satan?
Are we really willing to risk our own transformation and growth without deeply investigating the truth according to God?
My prayer is that all of us would be urged to prayerfully discern God's truths. That The Holy Spirit would make Himself known and that God's children will accept the offer when He calls. I pray for the total and complete unity of all believers and the body of Christ as a whole. Crossing all lines of theology and denomination, and that we would be fused together by the One Spirit and One Mind, and lay ourselves totally bare to the perfect will of God.
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