The Holy Ghost

In many of our churches you don’t hear a lot about the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit.  I think it is a big mistake not teaching or preaching on the Holy Ghost when it was so important to Jesus that He taught His followers about this very important event that was going to take place.  John the Baptist mentioned it also.  This event was so important that Jesus commanded His followers not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father.  

Read what He said in Acts 1:4-5, “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.’”

Then Jesus went on to tell His followers this in verses 7-8, “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.’”

Like I said, this was so important for Jesus’ followers because without the infilling of the Holy Spirit they would accomplish very little.  Was this the first time that they had received the Holy Spirit?  No, it says this in John 20:21-23, “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’”

I know there is a lot of controversy over this subject, but the fact is that every believer needs to be filled continually with the Holy Spirit.  Without the Holy Spirit empowering you, how will you be an effective witness?  I think about Peter and how he would put his foot in his mouth, so to speak, at times and how he denied the Lord on three occasions before Jesus had breathed on Him and said, “receive ye the Holy Ghost,” and how He had drastically changed after he was baptized with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

I realize that every believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling within them.  God’s Word says this in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

If Jesus’ followers received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them, as I mentioned earlier in this tidbit, why did Jesus tell them this in Acts 1:1-5?  “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

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.’”  

Being baptized in the Holy Spirit would give them power to witness wherever they went and with the persecution they would face they would need the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the boldness of a lion just as every believer does today.  So if you are a believer and lack the power to witness because of being scared or some other reason, or maybe you don’t believe the Holy Spirit’s baptism is for today because you have been taught that it isn’t, ask the Lord to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and be open minded to receive it.  If Jesus thought it was important for His followers then it is just as important for each of us, no matter what you may think.

As for me, I want everything that Jesus has for me and whatever He thinks I need.  Don’t just take my word for it, but take some time and study this topic for yourself.  Something to think about and don’t forget when you know the truth, the truth will set you free!  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!