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The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

by Jerry Ousley  
5/26/2017 / Christian Living

            For the next couple of articles I feel led to talk to you about a very controversial subject in the modern church world and that is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking with other tongues.  There are basically two sides of the fence on this subject; those who believe who-heartedly in it and those who don’t.  Because there’s so much to say I’m not going to tell any stories related to this but just jump right into it.

            Some say that we receive the gift of The Holy Spirit the moment we get saved while others say that it is a second work of grace separate from salvation.  Each side seems to quote the same scriptures to prove their point.  I suppose I’m not on either side and I’m sure I’ll be criticized because of it but I have devoted my life to studying the Scripture and what the Bible has to say.  Frankly there’s truth on both sides and some scripture stretching also being done on both sides.

            Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit coming upon us and we see it happening first in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost (a feast and holy day of the Jews).  Some say that the disciples were saved before this and others say that this was the significant birth of the Church.  Technically I agree with both.  The disciples had definitely made a commitment to Christ prior to this event and even though the work of grace had not been completed yet we see Jesus forgiving the thief on the cross and telling him that on that very day he would be with Him in Paradise.  On the other hand it was the turn of events that started the Church.

            I’m just going to throw out some facts and let the chips fall where they may.  You can agree with me or not.  It doesn’t matter because I firmly believe that if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and you have given yourself to Him then regardless what you believe on this subject you are my brother or sister and we’ll meet in Heaven.  But here it is:  After years of study I have come to believe that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place when we come to a realization of exactly what Christ has done in our lives.  We come to Him in repentance but often we don’t understand.  We’ve heard the Gospel and it has sparked in our hearts and even though we don’t completely know what’s taking place we accept Him and are saved.  But sometime later (and that time period can range from immediately at salvation to many years later) we see the magnificence of the grace of Jesus Christ and we are awed and humbled in His presence.  At that moment we are submersed in Him, we fully commit ourselves to Him and we experience a bit of what I think Moses must have experienced on top of Mount Sinai in the presence of the Almighty God.  Even though we have been saved we have seen this great truth and we move into a different level in our relationship with God.  Does it make us more of a Christian?  Nope.  Does it give us special favor with God?  Nope.  Does it make us better than Christians who have not had this experience?  Nope - not at all.  It is a gift of God available to each and every believer in Christ Jesus and is the beginning of our equipping for service to our Master.

            In this light there are many who have received this experience but perhaps didn’t call it the Baptism in the Holy Spirit because of what our modern day definition entails.  Some have come to believe that in order to experience this outpouring of the presence of God in our lives we must speak with other tongues.  That turns a lot of people off.  But I believe that there are those who have done great things in the Kingdom of God who have not spoken with other tongues yet encountered this great experience.  They had to in order to accomplish the great things God allowed them to accomplish in their lives. 

In the next article we want to specifically talk about speaking in other tongues.  We hope this has helped to clear up a few things for some of you.  You are welcome to email us with any questions.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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