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“Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace, you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.” (Isaiah 61:7)
“After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken away from you?” “Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. “You have requested a difficult thing,” said Elijah. “Nevertheless, if you see me as I am taken from you, it will be yours. But if not, then it will not be so.” As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind. As Elisha watched, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two. Elisha also picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, and he went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.” (II Kings 2:9-14)
I. The Desire and Truth of the Holy Spirit
II. The Path
III. The Gift-The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
I. The Desire and the Truth of the Holy Spirit
Knowing the truth of the Holy Spirit is the first step. You must know what you are missing before your desire to receive it. The verse in II Kings 2 is just one of the verses that relate to the Holy Spirit. There is a double portion of the SAME Holy Spirit and why would you NOT want that, you get more of the Holy Spirit! I don’t know about you, but in this world full of evil and Satan, I need as much of the Holy Spirit as I can get to help me through life.
1. There is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and there is the infilling.
“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:6-7)
“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 8:14-16)
2. The Baptism is the double portion II Kings was talking about. It is like having a glass filled with water, that is the infilling. The Baptism is having the glass (which represents your heart), and completely dunking it in the water!
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” (Acts 1:8)
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16)
“The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different person.” (I Samuel 10:6)
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:2-4)
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)
“John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 11:16)
II. The Path
The path to receiving the infilling and the baptism is all about faith and surrender. It is about letting go of self to fill up with the Holy Spirit. If you are so full of your self-will, how will you have any room for the Holy Spirit? Picture a cup, and it represents your heart, and it is filled up with rocks that represent all your negative emotions, all the hurt from the past, all the regrets, and all the “I’m going to do it my ways,” that never work out but only cause more trouble and you have to let go of fear. The Holy Spirit is gentle, and known as a “Comforter.” There is no need to be afraid and fear will cause a barrier because it is not from God! Ask for help regarding your fears. Receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is just a matter of yielding, not age.
It if is so full of you, is there any room left for the Holy Spirit? No! You need to start emptying and letting go. How do you do that?
1. Asking for help from God! Prayer
2. Ask Him to open your eyes to the things you need to surrender, to the people you need to forgive and that includes yourself and the guilt, shame and regret you need to let go of.
3. Then repent as needed.
4. Then step by step allow God to help you surrender and forgive and receive forgiveness one thing at a time. If you try to do it all at once, it may overwhelm you. This is because, for some of you, the baggage runs deep.
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 3:38-39)
You cannot have blocks in the way of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and receiving the gifts. For example, you have a garden but it is full of weeds. Weeds can take over a garden; you need to prune it from time to time to allow room for your garden to grow. It is the same with our hearts and the sin and negative junk within, we need to examine ourselves and allow God to do the same.
“Every plant not planted by the Father, will be pulled up by its roots.” (Matthew 15:13)
III. The Gift - The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Once you know more and are ready to receive, just ask!
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:9-13)
Tongues are a sign of receiving so when you are ready, it is nothing to be afraid of, it is something that you will want! You can ask your Pastor to pray over you but that is not needed. Just get alone, put on some praise music, and praise until your flesh leaves. I mean praise and worship the Lord until you are lost in Him and not thinking about what you should or shouldn’t do or worries or tasks of the day. Just worship and get lost in Him. Open your mouth and start praising Him. Then He will baptize you, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and as words begin to form, your prayer language keep speaking it, and DO NOT allow the enemy to deceive you into thinking it is not tongues. He cannot understand it so he does not want you to do it! Don’t fall for it and just believe. You may not understand it if the Lord has not given you the gift of interpretation, but that is okay; just keep speaking!
“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name, they will drive out demons; they will speak in tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:15-18)
You will also receive gifts of the Holy Spirit and it is for your special purpose in Christ to be used for the glory of God.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
(I Corinthians 10:31)
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.” (Romans 12:6)
No matter what gifts that we are blessed with, God works in all of them and the ones He gives to you are special and unique to you.
“There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”
(I Corinthians 12:6)
The gifts given to you upon being baptized by the Holy Spirit are for the good of all people, whether it is believers or unbelievers.
“Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
(I Corinthians 12:7)
“I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men, and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-29)
The gifts of the Spirit are broken down into three Basic Groups which are:
1. Domata Gifts (equipping the Church or ministries found in Ephesians 4:11-13), which is known as the Five Fold Ministry
Pastor, Apostle, Teacher, Evangelist, and Prophet.
2. Charismata Gifts (stewardship gifts or ability gifts), Found in (Romans 12:3-9)
1. Giving
2. Serving
3. Hospitality
4. Administration
5. Encouragement
6. Leadership
7. Gift of helping others
8. Gift of showing mercy
3. Pneumatic Charismata Gifts (spiritual gifts for dynamic manifestations of the Holy Spirit in which He openly displays Himself). There are three categories within the Pneumatic Charismata Gifts found in I Corinthians 12, which are the major gifts: they are Revelation Gifts, Vocal Gifts, and Power Gifts.
You need faith to operate in these gifts.
The Revelation Gifts are: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, and discerning of spirits.
The Vocal Gifts are; speaking in tongues (1st is when by yourself it is to edify you and 2nd in church, or group setting it is to edify the group and an interpreter must be present), interpretation of tongues, and gifts of prophecy (dreams and visions fall into this category and are found in Acts 2:17-18). If someone speaks in tongues in Church an interpreter must be present. It is to edify or build up the church.
“I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.” (I Corinthians 14:5)
“He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.”
(I Corinthians 14:4)
This only gives you a greater awareness that you are filled with the Holy Spirit, which increases your faith, in knowing that God is with you and loves you.
The Power Gifts are: faith, healing, and miracles. It does not matter what gift you have each one is needed and important. In Christ, we are all the ‘body of Christ’ and each part is needed to make it all complete.
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
(I Corinthians 12:12-13)
God has given us the spiritual gifts that best fit us and we are all to work together for the good of all people and for the unity of the whole body of Christ.
“But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (I Corinthians 12:24-26)
In using any of our gifts it is not for our own good, it is to bring glory to God, to witness to unbelievers, and to strengthen the church. As the church is strengthened, it is able to do more of a service to all people in the way God intended it to be.
“What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.” (I Corinthians 14:26)
Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is simply more of HIM and in this world you need it. It is like going out into a battlefield with only a knife and the enemies coming against you have machine guns. You will not be equipped.
I go into this in more detail in my book: The Holy Spirit and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which you can find on our website: www.yournewlifeministries.org