Things that are good to know for those who seek to receive all that God has for them:
First, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a gift from the Father.
- The gift of the Father is the Holy Spirit Himself.
- The gift is not a reward for being good.
- The gift has already been given.
- The gift is spoken of as being like a river that must be received.
- If I drink, there is no chance that I will not receive.
- Drinking and receiving are one in the same.
- When we drink, we receive right away.
- It is impossible to get what you are not willing to help others receive.
Nobody can give a man a clean heart, but God. God’s Word and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is what it takes to change us. When I became a Christian I had been in the church all my life, but what happened to me is what has happened in the lives of others as well. I received the infilling of the Holy Spirit the night I was converted. It was at that very point in my life when one of the greatest blessings that a man could ever receive came into my life. The blessing was this, I became miserable about my sin. Nobody had to tell me that I was grieving the Holy Spirit by the life I had been living. I had denied God the right to own my personality, to own my mind and thoughts, and to own my emotions. What was taking place was that I had to learn the hard way that Jesus did not come to make bad men good but to make dead men live. Someone had to die, and that someone was the old me. The baptism of the Holy Spirit to me was more than just a yielding of the unruly member the tongue. It was like a military invasion and takeover of every area of resistance in my life.
This is more than an inner office memo. This is a declaration of grace, and the grace that I know in my life is grace that made me miserable about my sin and gave me the power to live in dominion over my carnal desires. We believe in you!
Your loving pastors,
Cleddie and GayNell