Seeking Jesus First - Holy Spirit
Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believed?
“Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:33, NKJV)
“he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” (Acts 19:2, NKJV)
Baptism = Immersion
Receive = Take Possession
In Acts 2, Peter said the outpouring of Holy Spirit in the upper room was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy; “That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh”. Pouring out upon is baptism = immersion.
Acts 9:17 and Ephesians 5:18 command, “Be filled with The Holy Spirit.” “Be Filled” is PASSIVE. We ALLOW Holy Spirit to fill us.
“Be filled” = receive.
“Be” = continuous state, “be continually filled”.
Enter into and remain in a state of allowing Holy Spirit to fill you with GOD, God’s love and to even increase your faith. We keep ourselves in a place of allowing Holy Spirit to continuously fill us.
Jesus commanded in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”, and this will empower you to do what I commanded you to do. (See Mark 16:15-18 and Matthew 18:18-20)
Acts 2:4, Acts :4:8,31, Acts 8:15, Acts 9:17, Acts 10:44, Acts 11:15, Acts 13:52, Acts 19:2 Each of these passages begin the description of what happens when people are baptized with and receive the infilling of Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit always manifested in a way that the people around could bear witness with their eyes and ears. Holy Spirit manifested in the gift of tongues, shaking, great joy, or in some other testifiable way.
Here is a dream that I received about ten years ago:
My wife and sons and I were sitting in the balcony of a very large traditional, denominational church. In the dream, we were the only ones in the balcony, but the church was pretty full in the main area. The church was older and beautiful and had been modernized with a large stage and even a very large projection screen on the back wall of the stage. The minister got up and announced that a very dear older lady had returned after being absent for a very long time. He asked her and her husband to come up to the stage because she was going to sing a special song for the church. When she reached the stage with the assistance of her husband, the big green retracted to the ceiling and they stood upon a designated are on the stage. The dear older lady began to sing and the area of the stage where she and her husband were standing began to elevate. This are had no railing and it just went right up to higher than the balcony level. While she was singing, she began to sway as if drunk. At first, her husband kept her from falling. But then she fell and when she did, the whole place was filled with joyful laughter and the main floor of the church was turned into a swimming pool. Everyone was joyfully swimming. As I observed in the balcony, I began to laugh and cry extremely hard on my hands and knees. Finally, I stripped off my suit jacket and dived into the pool. Then, in the dream, I was standing back in the balcony putting my suit coat on. The pastor of the church was in the balcony asking me about my experience, and I realized that I had put my suit jacket on over an overcoat that I did not have prior to jumping into the pool.
I believe that the churches who have not had the full manifestation and expression of The Holy Spirit will welcome The Holy Spirit back into the church. They will take away some of the entertainment atmosphere and allow Holy Spirit to sing while The Father releases another outpouring - not because Holy Spirit is not in the earth but because Holy Spirit has been limited in the church. I also believe that I will observe this outpouring and participate in it with a new “overcoat”.