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When you receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Savior, the Holy Spirit moves into you. He will lead you to change, to clean out the things in your life that are displeasing to God. The Holy Spirit is gentle, he will not push you, he will gently prod you. Your conscience will start to bother you when you are doing, listening to, or watching something that is out of the will of God. He will start to produce the fruits of the Spirit in your life. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Gal.5:22,23. When the Holy Spirit starts to work inside you, you will change if you yield to his leading. You will start to develop the mind of Jesus. The Holy Spirit will give you an understanding of Jesus, which will lead you to a close personal relationship with Him. As the fruits of the Spirit start to develop in you, you will start to think and act more like Jesus. You will start to love people you couldn't stand before, you will develop patience and a giving nature. Your life will start to align with the God's purpose and will for your life. God promised that in the last days there would be a great outpouring of His Holy Spirit. "And it shall come to pass afterwards [{in the last days}as Peter says in Acts 2:17], that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." Joel 2:28,29. I believe that this has already begun. We are seeing people from all denominations receiving the baptism of the Spirit. It is not just Pentecostals and Charismatics any more that are receiving the baptism of the Spirit. Denominations that in the past traditionally rejected and taught against the baptism of the Spirit, speaking in tongues, divine healing and miracles, are now realizing that we all need the baptism of the precious Holy Spirit. God is pouring out His Spirit on all people, there are no denominational lines any longer. The body of Christ is truly becoming one body through the powerful workings of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an awesome and wonderful thing. John the Baptist said concerning Jesus: "I indeed have baptized you with water: but He(Jesus) shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." Mark 1:8. After Jesus was resurrected, He commanded the apostles to wait in Jerusalem: "but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Acts 1:4,5. When you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit you receive power, the power of God, through Jesus Christ. Jesus told the apostles: "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8. The Holy Spirit will give you the power to speak boldly about Jesus and the things of God. The Holy Spirit will give you understanding as you read the Word of God in the Bible. The Holy Spirit with empower you and strengthen you to resist the powers of satan and his demons. Once you receive the baptism of the Spirit you are given a new prayer language. The language of the Holy Spirit, also known as tongues. You can use your new prayer language to pray more effectively than ever before. The Holy Spirit searches your heart and has a direct line to God the Father, to pray as you don't know how. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Rom.8:26,27. Once you receive the baptism of the Spirit, you become eligible to receive the gifts of the Spirit. Just as there are 9 fruits, discussed earlier, there are 9 gifts. "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." 1Cor. 12:7-11 Gifts are given separately and for a specific reason. Not all people receive the same gifts. You may have a specific gift for one specific circumstance. Or you may receive a gift you have all the time. The gifts are pretty self explanatory. The gift of tongues though differs from the prayer tongue. Praying in tongues is for your personal edification or uplifting. The gift of tongues is used by God to give a corporate message to the Church and must be accompanied by an interpretation. When you pray in tongues you can ask God to give you the understanding of what you are praying. The Holy Spirit is the precious Spirit of God, the third person of the Holy Trinity. He will uplift you, guide you, give you understanding of the Word of God, comfort you in times of need and will convict you when you are out of the will of God. He will bring you to a better understanding of Jesus, who He is and who you are in Him. When you receive the baptism of the Spirit He will change your life. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. All you need to do is ask God. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Luke 11:13 If you would like to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, pray this prayer or one like it: Heavenly Father, I am your child. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I ask
you now to pour your Holy Spirit into me and on me now.
I ask you to baptize me with your Holy Spirit and fill me with your power to go forth
and boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank you Father, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen
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