Introduction

The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Holy, Divine Trinity and is fully God even as Jesus Christ is God, along with God the Father. From the first readings in the Bible, (Genesis 1:26,27) God spoke of Himself in the plural form, in the Hebrew, Elohim, which is plural, meaning more than one. The Godhead itself, as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is referred to as One, even as in human experience man and wife are referred to as one, although composed of two personalities. In the Genesis passage God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; ...." Throughout the Old Testament reference is made to the Spirit of God, or the Holy spirit. The Son (Jesus) was referred to in the Old Testament, most clearly in (Psalm 2:1-12 )" You are My Son, today I have begotten You,.... and...kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way...."

Jesus foretold the coming and revelation of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, Helper and Giver of power to the Christian Believers after Jesus' crucifixion and ascension into Heaven. St. John 14:15-29 addresses this concept with Jesus speaking:

"If you love me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father and you in Me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them it is he who loves Me, and he who love Me will be loved by My Father and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.

Judas, not Iscariot, said to Him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest Yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me he will keep My word and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. If you loved Me you would rejoice because I said I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to you , you may believe."

Jesus further elucidated the work of the Holy Spirit in St. John15:26: "When the Helper comes whom I shall send to you from the Father, the spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." Earlier, in St. John 7:37,38, Jesus said, "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (or crucified, resurrected and ascended to Heaven)

The Promise

Jesus gave a promise concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit (also known as the Holy Ghost) who now dwells in the hearts and minds of the Christian Believers since shortly after Jesus ascended to the Father after His death and resurrection from the dead following His crucifixion at Calvary. Jesus encouraged Believers to rejoice over His death and resurrection because only after He had returned to the Father could the Holy spirit come to dwell within the souls of the Believers. The Holy Spirit, or the Helper, sometimes called the Comforter, would dwell within Believers and give direction and guidance in this world. Jesus further emphasized these concepts in St. John 16:5-15:

"But now I go away to Him Who sent Me and none of you asks Me, 'Where are you going?' Because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you. and when He has come He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment; of sin because they do not believe in Me, of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see me no more; of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you but you cannot hear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever he hears He will speak. And He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

The Power

Jesus said that He still had many things to tell the Believers throughout time, but that He could not at that time discuss those things with the disciples. He further indicated that the Holy Spirit Whom He would send to the Believers after Jesus left the Earth would tell them and the further Believers those things that are needed to be known, as the need to know arose. This is one of the important tasks of the Holy Spirit now - to tell Believers the things that Jesus wishes for them to know in order to complete Jesus' work on the Earth here and now. Jesus has left the witnessing of His love, power and forgiveness to the whole world as the task that must be accomplished while the world awaits the return of Jesus to establish His Kingdom here on Earth for the Millenial reign which is soon to be established here on Earth. This task cannot be done either properly or expeditiously without Divine help and intervention. That help is the duty of the Holy Spirit as Believers invite Him to lead and direct their lives and to give inspiration in talking, writing and action.

It was through the assistance of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was able to accomplish His work while He lived and worked on Earth during His three years of public ministry. Until the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus performed no mighty miracles and had not yet come into His true ministry. At the baptism of Jesus and the descent at that time of the Holy Spirit upon Him, Jesus was enabled to do the works that He had been sent to Earth to do. St. John 1:32-34 states: "And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon Whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the son of God".

After Jesus was resurrected from the dead He appeared among His disciples for forty days before He ascended into the heavens while His disciples watched Him ascend. Immediately before He ascended He instructed His followers in Acts 1:4-8:

"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. You shall be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the Earth'"

Pentecost

After Jesus' ascension to Heaven the Believers, according to Jesus' instructions waited together in prayer for the Holy spirit to be given to them. Ten days later, on the feast Day of Pentecost as they worshipped together the Holy Spirit descended, according to Acts 2:1-21:

"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.

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under Heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, 'Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born?... We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'Whatever could this mean?' Others, mocking, said, 'They are full of new wine'.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, 'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words, for these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: (Joel 2:28-32) 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on my menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in Heaven above and signs in the Earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"

The Witness

Jesus had told His disciples just before ascending to Heaven that they would receive power after they had received the Holy spirit. Following the reception of the Holy Spirit on this Day of Pentecost Peter, who earlier had been weak and undependable, an earthy and violent man, suddenly became an anointed preacher, and great miracles began to follow his ministry, just as miracles had followed Jesus' ministry after the indwelling of the Holy spirit within Him at His baptism. On the Day of Pentecost 3000 souls were saved from their sins, and added to Christ's church. Following this another 5000 men believed on the Name of Jesus Christ after the sermon Peter preached following the healing of the lame man at the gate beautiful The impact that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit made on the Believers was so profound that the local authorities became disturbed, believing that they could lose their own authority if people continued to believe this teaching that was so powerfully demonstrated with signs following. If this continued, they feared that all of the people would be converted to a belief in Jesus Christ and they then would lose their positions as leaders of the people. They could not see beyond their own personal needs to the needs of the people they were supposed to help.

Evidence

Jesus strongly emphasized that demonstrations of the power in Jesus' Name would follow the preaching of the Word of God by Believers. In Mark 16:15-18 Jesus had said to His followers: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these will follow those who believe; in My Name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover."

Jesus had indicated here that they would speak with new tongues which they had neither studied nor learned, and that mighty miracles would follow them. These promises were fulfilled among the Believers who received the power promised them after the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Believers became empowered to preach stirring, convicting sermons through the Holy Spirit anointing, and the gifts of the Holy spirit followed their preaching of the Word of God with signs and miracles. The Holy Spirit, true to His task was present in the messages and stirred the hearers to conviction of their sins and repentance to salvation.

Jesus earlier had said that unless the Holy Spirit drew him, no man could come to the Father. As long as the Holy Spirit is present here on the Earth He will continue to draw hearers to the Father and cause them to repent and to be saved. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit can do this task only as Believers present the truths of the Bible to others or as others read the Word of God, the Holy Bible. The Bible is Truth, and the Holy Spirit is present to reveal the Truth to anyone who is open and ready to believe the Truth.

The Anointing

The Holy Spirit Baptism is compared in the Bible with the anointing process of the Old Testament. During Old Testament times the chief priest would anoint selected people for specific tasks which God had called them to do. In the anointing, olive oil that had been blessed or dedicated to God, was poured from a ram's horn over the head of the person who was being anointed by God through the priest. The oil was allowed to run down over the face and body of the anointee, indicating separation of that person along with empowerment for the duty the anointed one was to perform.. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost with the infilling of the Holy Spirit into the Believers, this Holy Spirit infilling of Believers is classified as an anointing.

Additionally, through the Holy Spirit Who now indwells Believers after their baptism in the Holy Spirit, God "calls out" or anoints specific Believers to specialized tasks to perform in Jesus' Name for God's Holy Cause. This anointing instills special abilities into Holy Spirit-filled Believers. These abilities are known as "Gifts of the Spirit". These anointings enable performance that otherwise cannot be accomplished by mortal man. Examples of these performances include acts as healing of sick people through miraculous, Divine intervention at the request of the Believer, or the giving of special messages from God to the Church congregation or to individuals. The Holy Spirit is symbolized in the Bible in New Testament times as the oil, or the oil of the anointing. This anointing by the Holy Spirit powerfully was evident throughout New Testament accounts of miracles, healing and special knowledge that otherwise could not be known. This anointing continues to be evident in Believers as they invite the presence of the Holy Spirit to be manifested through their lives, their words and their actions, as they are dedicated to God and performing God's work on Earth.

Manifestions of the Holy Spirit

The disciples were able to perform mighty works of healings and miracles after their infilling of the Holy Spirit. Multitudes of souls were won for the Kindgom of God. Peoples' lives were changed from carnal, sinful and selfish perspectives into becoming righteous, compassionate and loving Followers of the will of God, bringing help and hope to mankind. Miracles and healings were performed routinely as the believers, anointed by the Holy spirit, proclaimed the truth of the Gospel and brought salvation and healing to the masses.

The Bible indicates that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit will continue throughout the church age until Jesus returns for His church, the Bride of Christ. (1 Corinthians 13:8-13). Jesus said in St. Mark 16:14-20 that the signs of healing, unlearned tongues, deliverance and miracles would follow the Believers as they went into the world to preach the good news of Jesus Christ as all Believers are commanded by Jesus to do. That command with the promise of signs to follow will not be withdrawn until the return of Jesus to the Earth in His Second Coming. The Scriptures specifically state that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with His miraculous manifestations would not be limited to the early Jewish Christian Believers. Acts 10:1-48 discusses at length Peter's instructions from God not to limit the salvation of Jesus Christ to the Jews alone but that Christ's salvation is to be extended to all peoples throughout the Earth who will believe on the Name of Jesus Christ:

"'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things, which He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day and showed Him openly not to all the people but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.

And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His Name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.' While Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word and those of the circumcision were astonished as many as came with Peter, because the Gift of the Holy spirit had been poured out on the gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, 'Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?'

And he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord."

In this passage not only gentile people as well as Jewish Believers had believed on Jesus Christ to receive His salvation, but the gentiles also had received the same Holy Spirit with the same manifestation of speaking in tongues, or speaking in a language that they had not learned previously. Throughout the book of Acts the receiving of the Holy Spirit by others was accompanied by a notable manifestation obvious to observers, as in Acts 8:9-24 when Simon the sorcerer observed that through the laying on of hands Believers received the Gift of the Holy Spirit. Simon then offered money to the apostles, saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." Simon saw the manifestation of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues and with miracles and wanted this power for his own use and profit.

After Peter rebuked Simon for thinking that the gift of God could be purchased with money or used for personal profit, Simon repented of this sin and asked Peter to pray for God to forgive him. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit with His manifestations is free and available to all Believers in Jesus everywhere throughout the world until this present time.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

To be effective workers for the kingdom of Heaven, the empowerment and anointing that comes when Believers receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit is necessary. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is referred to as the "Baptism in the Holy Spirit". Baptism refers to a total immersion in the medium; in this case, the Holy Spirit. Baptism occurs when the Believer yields his will to the control of the Holy Spirit of God while in an attitude of worship and praise to God for His goodness and mercy. The ability to worship and praise God is hampered and limited by one's natural thought process and human words. It is at this moment that the Spirit of praise and adoration of God wells up from within one's inner being with the urge to bypass human reason in praise and worship. By yielding one's tongue to God's control while verbalizing sounds, one finds oneself forming syllables effortlessly in a language one does not understand intellectually in a spirit of praise. This is "speaking in tongues".

Sometimes with "speaking in tongues" another person may hear and understand what is verbalized by the worshiper. Sometimes the verbalization is in an unidentified language, 1 Corinthians 14:10. Nevertheless, academic linguists have conducted extensive studies of the process and have found that the sounds have form and syntax like actual languages and cannot be classified as gibberish or confused vocalization, according to John Sherrill in They Speak in Other Tongues. The sounds have been shown to present like authentic languages. The meaning is known to God, to Whom the verbalization is directed in praise. When speaking in tongues occurs in private an interpretation, while helpful, is not necessary. With the interpretation of the prayer in tongues is given to the person's intellect by the Holy Spirit it can reveal what is on the mind of God concerning the topic 1 Corinthians 14:13. When Speaking in tongues occurs in church with increased volume as a message to the church body as a manifestation of one of the nine gifts of the Spirit an interpretation to the church, as another of the nine gifts of the spirit, in the local language so that confusion does not occur, 1 Corinthians 14: 5-28. Paul admonished the Christian leaders not to forbid the "speaking in tongues".

St. Paul, the well educated, intellectual giant who wrote many of the New Testament's epistles under the anointing of the Holy Spirit thanked God that he "spoke in tongues" more than any of the other Believers. He admonished Christian leaders not to prohibit "speaking in tongues" in I. Corinthians 14:39.

Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus or the apostles indicate that the need for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit would pass away before the second coming of Jesus to establish His physical kingdom here on Earth. The Bible indicates that near the end of the church age mankind's hearts will become ever more hardened, turning away from the Truth themselves and trying to prevent the preaching of the Good News of Jesus Christ to other people. Never shall the time be reached when no longer is needed the full assistance and anointing of the Holy Spirit until Jesus Himself is seen by humans, face-to-face and in His glorified body after His second coming to Earth. At that time the Bible indicates that Believers shall become like Jesus when they see Him face-to-face, as He is. After that wonderful day when Jesus shall appear in His glory and splendor, He will live among us on Earth in the full revelation of His power and glory. Until that rapidly approaching time, however, Christians have a great task ordered by God to present the Good News to lost people at any cost.

Believers are commanded to comb the highways and hedges for lost souls who desperately need forgiveness from their sins before they pass into eternity. That forgiveness can come only through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world through His matchless work of grace, His sacrifice on Calvary's cross for our sins, dying in our place.

The Bible states in Romans 10:9-15: "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved...."

Command

The Holy Spirit calls Believers to carry the truth of God's Son, Jesus Christ, to the whole world so that all peoples may hear and be saved as they believe on Jesus Christ and His blood that was shed as perfect sacrifice for all mankind, for all who believe on His Holy Name. The Holy Spirit will enfuse Believers with ability and with the anointing to proclaim the truth with power and with the manifestation of God's Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been given to all Believers. Jesus would not give a command that could not be performed. Every Believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling within Him, for Peter said on the Day of Pentecost as he preached to the multitudes, Acts 2:38, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all who are far away...."

It is the responsibility of Believers to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work through their lives and to be true witnesses about Jesus Christ to the world. Paul encouraged Timothy to stir up the gift that was within him that was imparted to him by the laying on of hands. All Believers are to do the same. Acts 2:4 states that THEY (the Believers) began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance or leading.

Praying in each person's unlearned prayer language becomes an act of will. Believers DECIDE to obey the Lord God. The Holy Spirit did not force the Believers to speak with other tongues, but they, the Believers, themselves spoke as they felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon them. The Holy Spirit does not speak in tongues. People speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit guides gently.

The speaking in other tongues in prayer allows the Holy spirit to search the Believers' hearts and souls and to allow the individual to pray directly to God so that expression can be given in prayer to the concepts that need to be prayed in seeking the will of God. Through speaking or praying in tongues the Believers' spirits pray directly to God, bypassing man's fallible human thought process. If human intellect understood the prayer that was being prayed through the anointing of the Holy Spirit this could cause a weakening of faith through mankind's unbelief that God can do anything. Unbelief and fear drive out faith, and all that mankind gets from God is through faith in God's power and His promises.

Romans 8:26,27 states, "The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." When praying in tongues (unlearned language) the prayer language is guided by the Holy Spirit within the Believer's spirit. One is able to express supplications to God that transcend weak, mortal, human minds. One is enabled to pray to God in faith for God's will to be accomplished through the life of the Believer. The Holy Spirit enables one therefore to pray perfect prayers to God because what is prayed in the Spirit goes beyond what humans themselves can think to pray and request concerning matters that are troublesome.

Prayer

If you have not believed on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and forgiveness of your sins or if you never have allowed the Holy Spirit to have freedom in your life through the release of your prayer language to God and would like to yield your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, please repeat these words:

If you meant that prayer God accepts you as His own Child. You are forgiven of all of your past sins and now are accepted into the kingdom of God. You now have received eternal life, ever to live in the presence of the Lord God. You are greatly loved by God. Accept the gift of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus' promise and allow the Holy spirit to have His way in your life and prayers.