Receive the Holy Spirit

 In Daily Devotional

Acts 8:15-16

“When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

I firmly believe that the extra level of empowerment brought about by being baptized (immersed) in the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in enabling and empowering us to walk out our faith effectively and genuinely in prison and then, after our release, in “the free world”.

When we accept the finished work of Jesus at the Cross, and confess His resurrection as the Son of God, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. We “possess” the Spirit, and He begins His ongoing work of sanctification to steadily make our “new man” conform to the image of Christ.

However, true empowerment – God’s own power – comes to us, and for us, as we totally submit to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to “possess” us – one giant step more than us merely “possessing” Him inside us. We actually are able to allow Him to “possess” us!

We are His Temple. Shouldn’t we voluntarily give Him full control of His home? The Holy Spirit of God is a Gentleman. He will not force Himself upon us, but He responds to our invitation.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE:

Jesus is the Baptizer of the Holy Spirit with fire and power. Ask Him to baptize you in His Holy Spirit.

Don’t stop at water baptism. Take the next step.

Diving Deeper: Study Acts 8.