This is not an easy post for me to write, but the Lord is desiring for me to write it. I know there are people out there that will probably differ with me. There are those that believe that as soon as you confess in your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior you right away are filled with the Holy Spirit. I am not here to argue that it is not possible. However, the in-filling of the Spirit of God that I am talking about here is the experience that the apostles had in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. If that is what you experienced on the day you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then that is exactly what I am talking about: being filled with the Spirit of God. That is what I want to write about today.
On the day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter 2, we see the apostles getting filled with the Holy Ghost (the Spirit of God), and a throng of people gathering outside were wondering what in the world was happening. According to the people visiting from all over the world in Jerusalem, they were hearing the apostles praising God in different languages. They were hearing them speak in Parthians, Medes, Elamites, the Mesopotamian language, Cappodocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, Jews and Cretes and Arabians. They were saying to one another, “But aren’t these people Galileans? Why do we hear them speak in our language about the wonderful works of God?” The scripture states that they were all amazed and were wondering what’s going on. Some who couldn’t explain it in any other way started to say that they were drunk! They said, “They are filled with new wine!” Well, Apostle Peter with the rest of the apostles heard what they were saying and they got up to face the people. Peter spoke up and started talking to the people and explaining to the people what was going on. He told them that they were not drunk at all since it is only nine in the morning. It’s too early to get drunk. “But” he told them, “This is exactly what was spoken by prophet Joel.” Prophet Joel wrote, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” {Acts 2:17-18}
There is definitely an outward manifestation when someone is getting filled with the Spirit of God. Based on my readings in Acts and even in the Old Testament when one is filled with the Spirit of God they start to prophesy and speak about how wonderful God is. In Acts chapter 8, Simon a sorcerer saw the evidence of being filled with the Holy Ghost and offered the apostles money so that he too can give it to anyone who wants it. According to the scriptures, Philip preached to the Samaritans in Samaria and there were people that came to believe what he was teaching them about the word of God. One of them was Simon the sorcerer. Now when the apostles heard about this, they sent Peter and John so that they could pray for them to receive the Holy Ghost. “Then laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given he offered them money. Saying, “Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.”” {Acts 8:17-19} Even though the scripture doesn’t say what happened when the people got the Holy Ghost, something must have happened to them that Simon himself wanted this power.
Another example of people speaking in tongues and prophesying and speaking the wonderful works of God is in the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. He was praying one day and an angel came to him and told him that his prayers and his alms have become a memorial before God, and that he should go and get Peter to come and tell them about God. To make a long story short, after the Lord was able to persuade Peter to go and visit a Gentile’s house (which was against their culture), he came to Cornelius’ house and preached to them. According to the scriptures in chapter 10:44-46, “While Peter yet spake these words (testifying to them about Jesus Christ), the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision (the Jews) which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”
Another scene in Acts shows of Apostle Paul one day meeting a group of John the Baptist’s followers. Paul asked them, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost”. And he said unto them, “What then were ye baptized? And they said, “Unto John’s baptism.” Then said Paul, “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve.” {Acts 19:2-7}
In the Old Testament there are a couple of scenes that come to me when I think of the Spirit of God being poured out and the people ending up prophesying and speaking about the wonderful works of God. First was the scene when God told Moses to pick out seventy elders that will help carry the burden that he had for the people, because Moses was starting to get overwhelmed by all the murmurings and constant complaining he was hearing from the people. He told the Lord one day, “I cannot bear these people. This is too much for me.” So he picked the seventy elders and the Lord gave them His Spirit. According to the scriptures, “And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him (Moses) and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that when the spirit rested upon them they prophesied and did not cease.” {Numbers 11:25} Interesting to note in this scene, Joshua got jealous for Moses when he saw the elders prophesying and told him to make them stop. He must have known that God was upon them because Moses tells him, “Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!” {Numbers 11:28-29} I can’t help but think that Moses’ prayer was answered when Jesus Christ came down and died on the cross. Today anyone can be filled with the Spirit of God who believes in the Lord Jesus. All they have to do is ask Him.
The second scene is when King Saul was filled with the Spirit of God after Prophet Samuel had anointed him to be king. He told Saul that there were going to be signs that day that will happen to him, and one of them was that he’s going to meet a group of prophets and will be filled with the Spirit of God among them. Samuel told him, “And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee and thou shalt prophesy with them and shalt be turned into another man.” {1 Samuel 10:6} This is another thing to note after the Spirit of God comes upon a person, he becomes another man. He is a changed being. He will not be the same. When Saul met the prophets sure enough the scripture states, “The Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among them.” {1 Samuel 10:10} There is actually another scene where we see King Saul prophesying again in 1 Samuel 19:23. “And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.”
Now you might be saying, “Oh great! This is how to really have the Spirit of God? How in the world am I going to have this? There is no way this is happening now? This is back then in the Bible days. It doesn’t happen today. It’s impossible. And if it still happens today there’s no way I can have this if I have to speak in tongues and prophesy!”
