Let us fervently seek the true baptism in the Holy Spirit, so as to be cleansed and to be made like Jesus

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The first verse of the second chapter shows us that the disciples waited ten days. Let me tell you something about that time of waiting. Do you know how those one hundred and twenty people waited ? They dropped everything else, their jobs and the rest of their daily activities. No doubt they had plenty to do ; but they declared : "First things first. Since Jesus said : ëIn a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirití, it is worth while spending those few days waiting on Him and praying to Him to send down His Spirit." They might have said : "Since Jesus promised that we would be baptised in the Holy Spirit in a few days, letís go back to business as usual, letís go and work in the fields, in the factories or in our homes. As soon as Jesus wants to send the Holy Spirit, sure enough, He will !" A great many Christians behave in that way. They say : "We donít need to pray, since Jesus has made a promise." The disciples could have taken that course. What they actually did was to stay all together in the same place, because it is better to be together to spend ten days praying there, day and night. "And they continued steadfastlyÖin prayers." (Acts 2:42). They prayed, they praised and worshipped God, and they gave themselves to prayer, saying : "Lord, You said you would do it, so do it !"

 

That is how we Christians should pray, no matter which one of the Lordís promises we are praying about. That is how we should behave in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That is how we can show the Lord that we thirst for the gift He promised. "Lord, You have said that you eagerly desire to fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Do it, Lord !"

 

If you think you are already sufficiently filled with the Holy Spirit, you donít need to pray like that ! But if you consider that you have not yet reached the full measure of the stature of Christ, then pray that the Holy Spirit will be granted to you in still greater abundance. That is how you will show the Lord that you are thirsty ; so you will receive what you are asking for. But ask for it with all your heart ! That does not necessarily mean that you are going to drop everything else for ten days, or for two or three weeks, or for three or six months, and do nothing but pray and wait ; it means that your heart must desire it. You may well be out on your tractor, or doing the washing-up, or tending your vines, or gardening ; but in your heart, you are having fellowship with the Lord and saying : "Lord, Lord ! reveal Yourself !" (for Holy Spirit baptism is a revelation of the Lord) "Reveal Yourself to me, fill me with Your Holy Spirit, fill me ! I am thirsty, and to show You how thirsty I am, Lord, here I am crying out to You, for more of Your fullness !"

 

And on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down on each of the disciples. They began to speak in other tongues and to give glory to God in languages they didnít know. Tongues are indeed the first sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but they are not, as such, the baptism of the Holy Spirit ! The baptism of the Holy Spirit is far greater than that. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the very presence of God filling our hearts ; when that takes place, His presence abounds so greatly that there is an overflow of heavenly language, or a demonstration of those other gifts that the Holy Spirit grants us. However, in the first place, there must be a heart that thirsts for Your presence, Lord. And when the Lord comes down into my heart, He lifts me up into the heavenly places. Isnít that right ?

 

What a wondrous thing it is, when the Lord goes to the extent of coming down into a human heart ! It is His own light, His very own nature that comes down. His light floods the heart on the inside and lays bare all that had been concealed so far. The Lord shows me the deep, secret, hidden things that had never come to light. That is how He cleanses me on the inside. When we are not really and truly baptised in the Holy Spirit, we are unaware of our deepest sins, of the twisted things lurking deep down inside us. Most of the time, we donít know about them ! : However, we need to see them, so as to take them to the Lord, to repent of them, and to ask the Lord to cleanse us afresh with His Blood, deeper down inside our hearts. We need the Lordís own light to reach those places. When God revealed Himself to Isaiah, - we read about this in Isaiah 6 ñ the prophet exclaimed : "Woe to me !Ö I am ruined ! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips." Isaiah could not have made that statement before : but that is what he said when Jesus revealed Himself to him in all His glory and splendour, flooding his heart with light from above. That is a true Holy Spirit baptism. To receive the Holy Spirit in that way is to have the innermost parts of your heart directly flooded with Godís very own light, which brings out all that is still dark and shadowy, all that needs to be cleaned out and washed away by the Blood of Jesus. What a precious gift from God, when that light is sent down from heaven to cleanse our hearts.

 

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