Baptism of Spirit and Power

Yes! I Believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Power! (a testimony, not a full teaching)

I was about seventeen years old (1972) when I first learned and began to be convinced that there was such a thing as the Baptism in the Spirit. I had been churched since birth and had been taught through the Bible by my own loving dad, but I had not known of this baptism of the Spirit until late in my teenage years. Upon being convinced that it was true, I began to seek it (Him). I would pray, and fast, and hope, and ask time and again. For about two years I did this until finally I received a baptism that words can hardly describe – and in my case, the gift of tongues flowed as freely as the tears.

In the Middle of the Mighty Mississippi! (1974)
I was in a tiny bathroom using a toilet seat as my prayer bench when it all came about; and I might add, that tiny bathroom was on the fourth floor of a five-story riverboat that was pushing barges up the Mississippi River! After a brief season of getting dowsed by the Spirit and a longer season of getting washed by my own tears, I stepped out onto the deck perched high above that mighty rolling river to one of the happiest days of my life! The sun was particularly bright that day, and the sky was particularly clear!

It seemed that I could see forever for the first time! We were coming up on mile marker 195, where the Missouri flows into the Mississippi, and I could hardly wait for the next lock and dam stop where I would have access to a telephone for calling my parents to give them the news! What a sweet time that was! Today I say, "Oh Lord, forgive me for allowing the stresses of this life to rob me of such glory!" Well, I have enjoyed many times of glorious adventure since then, but those times of glory seem to be further and further apart as these days in which we live are dry and most of God's people are not truly thirsty.

Now according to my own testimony I asked for it (Him) and received; but it took some time. Why it took so much time I can only speculate, but I believe it had a lot to do with my getting my heart and mind in gear with His. I could share convincing evidence of how that moment was clearly orchestrated by Him. I can certainly substantiate the authenticity of the Baptism of the Spirit as an aside to the initial salvation experience even though I believe they are meant to go together. We are certainly born of the Spirit when we are "saved," since their is no new birth without the Spirit. Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit and told His disciples to "receive the Holy Spirit," before they ever encountered the Spirit's outpouring in the upper room (John 20:22). In the Great Commission commandment according to Luke's record, Jesus instructed the disciples to preach remission of sins, but not until after they "received the promise of the Father" (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:4). The room was filled with His presence. I was filled with His presence. I received a powerful manifestation of the gift of tongues known only to God. I experience the peace and refreshing of God as I had never known. The Word of God became alive to me as I had never seen it before. I had a desire to bear testimony of Him as I had never had to this degree. And, I was hungry to know the Lord through the Word and prayer in a way that I had never known. All that continues now, nearly forty years later! Hallelujah!

People Receive Different Ways (John 3:8)
We have a very dear friend, for example, who has a life of Spirit-filled faith, and she testifies that she received the Baptism of the Spirit some few days before receiving her prayer language. She is a particularly shy individual, and it is perfectly reasonable to assume that her own personality may have inhibited what the Spirit may have otherwise done. Nonetheless, I know her well enough not to argue the point. We must realize that the Spirit of God is just that – He is the Spirit of God, and He may work this way or that way based upon His own volition. When we try to bind Him to our own understanding or
interpretation of "the letter," we really frustrate His teaching. He is God, and some things are not clearly laid out in the scripture because He does not always act in compliance with a rule clearly laid out. He is God, and therefore His desire is His rule. Now on those issues where He has made plain what He
requires, or wants, or how He does a thing, we will stand firm until He alone proves otherwise. But there are a number of things that He keeps open – like whether He overwhelms with the Spirit's infilling absent of our specific request; or whether He gives it through the laying on of hands or not; or whether He would have us standing, or sitting, or kneeling at an altar in a Pentecostal church where they believe in "praying through"; or even whether He comes when we are, like I was, alone in a tiny bathroom on a riverboat pushing barges upstream. He's God and He did not make Bible-clear just exactly how He may baptize someone in the Spirit when He is ready. The wonderful thing that we should celebrate is that He would do it at all! Hallelujah!

You know, God once said that we should "not eat things common or unclean," and He even described those things specifically so there would be no mistake. Then at His appointed time He altered that rule, using that alteration to teach us something far greater than what that earlier command stood for (Acts 10). Jesus said that all that stuff passes out into the "draught" anyway, prioritizing what comes out of the heart rather than what goes into the body. Yet God changes not – not in His nature or character – but some of His illustrations may change in order to bring us progressively forward to His end goal… Christ-likeness!

Confirmation From a Spiritual Man and Woman of God in the Amazon
As a result of my many experiences, and after years of interviewing others with authentic testimonies of a life in the Spirit, I am convinced that this is the way God goes about giving His promised gift of the Baptism of the Spirit. I remember asking this very question to a dear faith-filled saint down in the Amazon of Brazil
many years ago. She and her saintly husband voluntarily left their wealth and riches in Sao Paulo and dove into the Amazon region to start a ministry for thousands of wandering homeless people called squatters. Time will not allow me to tell of the proof of their call and ministry and frequent visitations of the Spirit. I was so honored to be with them for several days while preaching in churches all over that region. Oh, how the Spirit did move! Well, upon seeing this elderly couple's unquestionable life of holiness, sacrifice, and Spirit-filled power, I couldn't wait to ask a few questions like the one before us today. One day while seeking the Lord together in their little shanty house in the jungle, I asked, "Anna, is it really true that some believers just need to ask time and again for the Spirit's baptism? And, if it is true – why?" Without hesitation, but with what appeared to be a little bit of uncertainty herself, she answered, "Yes." She went on to say that she had prayed for some faithful believers before who did not receive His outpouring for a few years – but they finally did receive; and for this she rejoiced. There were also those who received instantly. I have also experienced both things in praying for others. She agreed with what I had already concluded about why – that God is God and He is the owner and giver of His Spirit, doing so as He will. Whether He does one way or the other does not change who He is or the purpose for which He gives it. We also agreed that the person's readiness or lack thereof certainly may play a role in the timing and ease or difficulty of receiving.

A Mighty Outpouring Before a City in the Jungles of Bolivia
I remember one outstanding incident that happened at the end of a sermon I preached on the Spirit's baptism on one of my journeys into the Amazon region of northern Bolivia. Here, several churches and pastors of all kinds gathered from all around for this joint meeting. While people came streaming forward to receive that Baptism, one visiting Methodist pastor rushed up onto the platform and, facing me head on, shouted (in Spanish), "I want to receive the Baptism of the Spirit now!" There were hundreds of people there, and the noise level was just as you might imagine, but his abrupt outburst got the attention of everyone. I immediately sensed the Spirit saying that He was using this dry but thirsty Methodist minister as an illustration to encourage the others to have the faith to enter in also. Without giving
myself time for unbelief, I reached my hand up to his forehead (he was taller than I) and said, "Receive the Spirit!" At that instant, he went crashing to the floor of the platform and began speaking in tongues loudly! Well, this just revved up what was already in the works, and the Spirit began to fall on everyone! My! How I miss those times of refreshing! Oh, Lord! Let your Spirit flow here, just as I have witnessed Him do in so many other places!

The point being, the Lord had a divine purpose in filling that dear pastor instantly, as well as for his asking in the first place. In turn, we might ask, "Why did he need to come forward and ask for an infilling? Why didn't he receive the Spirit where he was sitting? Or why did so many others receive the Spirit automatically after they witnessed this man's experience? The answer to all that is that God is God, and
He must have wanted to do it that way, for He surely did. The wonderful thing is that He did! Hallelujah! It didn't change who He is or alter His objective… to fill someone with His Spirit so that he would be supernaturally charged for the journey of life transformation into His image!

May our Lord Jesus Christ be praised, and may He fill everyone who reads this article until their cup runs over! For audio messages that teach much more about the Baptism of the Spirit, click here.

Still finding Him out,

Mark Samuel Case

EVEN JESUS WAS ANOINTED (BAPTIZED) WITH THE
HOLY SPIRIT!

"It shall come to pass in that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil." (Isa. 10:27)

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." (Isa. 11:1-2)

"that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "BEHOLD! MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN, MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL IS WELL PLEASED! I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE WILL DECLARE JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES." (Matt. 12:17-18)

"And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED; TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." (Luke 4:17-19)

ALL FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST SHOULD MANIFEST HIS GIFTS AND CALLINGS THROUGH AN ANOINTING OF THE SAME SPIRIT, AS WELL

"But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift." (Eph. 4:7)

"And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Act 1:4-8)

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4)

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many." (I Cor. 12:1-14)