Luke 3:16 “John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
As we will see in this section, one of the primary purposes for the use of the laying on of hands in the church is to fill the saints with the Holy Spirit. In scripture we see two methods that our Lord uses to fill His saints with the Holy Spirit. The first is directly from heaven or we could also say directly from the Lord, for He is the one who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit anyway. That truth is confirmed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture when John the Baptist taught us that it is Jesus Himself who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. And so as we have already seen earlier in this series, the first account of this method being used is recorded in the book of Acts when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, for the scripture tells us that the sound of the mighty rushing wind came from heaven (Acts 2:1-4).
Acts 10:44-47 “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. (45) And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. (46) For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, (47) “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
The above quoted passage of scripture is the second account that shows the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit directly from heaven. The context of this account is that the apostle Peter was being used by the Lord to preach the gospel to the gentiles for the first time, and during Peter’s message the Lord Jesus poured out His Spirit on the people who were listening to Peter speak and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit at the same time. In my own experience I was also filled with the Holy Spirit in this same manner. I had been born-again for less than a week when some fellow Christians invited me to attend a bible conference. I had never been to such an event before and when I got there I was introduced to other believers as a brand-new convert. One of the believers I was introduced to asked me if I had received the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues since I was saved. I had no idea what the person was talking about and the people who brought me to the meeting told me not to worry about it, because they would explain all of that to me at a later stage. The meeting then began as the saints began to worship the Lord. Halfway through the worship the power of God came all over me and I just knew that if I spoke out I would speak in those tongues that I had just heard about. And so I spoke out and have been speaking in tongues ever since.
Michael E.B. Maher
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