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| PentecostalTheology.com
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” was the prophetic promise John the Baptist is recorded as giving of Jesus by Matthew and Luke (Luke. 3:16). And the fulfillment of that prophecy was imminent as Jesus gave His final earthly words: “And look, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). This was the last thing the Apostle Luke records Jesus as saying to His disciples before ascending.
And, it happened at Pentecost with the beginning of the End Times church. Peter said it that day: “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:39). It is for us, all who have been Born Again. Some people believe that they need to tarry or wait for the Holy Spirit to manifest in their lives, to experience the fire and the gifts of the Spirit. But, that is not true. The Holy Spirit and Fire have already been poured out, and the Lord is waiting for you to receive.
If you are Born Again, you have the Holy Spirit. He has transformed you. Now, receive the fullness of the Spirit with tongues, gifts and power today – it is yours for the asking, and you will enter a new day in your life, knowing His voice, receiving His guidance, and the joyful fulfillment of service with much fruit. You may ask:
“Can I not hear the Lord and bear good fruit without a second gift to my New Birth,” you may ask. You can, but the Lord has so much more available for you. Do not despise the fullness of the gift. The power of the Spirit helps us to live Christlike lives, and to serve the Lord with gladness. “Therefore he that despises does not despise man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 4:8).
“Do not wait,” says the Lord. “The time for the restoration of my plans for you is Now!”
And, with the fullness of the Spirit comes an extraordinary empowerment for prayer and a preparation to be used in the various miraculous spiritual gifts. It is the devotional gift of tongues in the form of a new heavenly prayer language.
For those who have received, let us appreciate and use our prayer language more and more. When you first received, it was so much more than simply an evidence of receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit; it was an introduction to the very power of the Holy Spirit working through us. I have experienced the fruit of much praying in tongues, and I am seeking to use my heavenly language more and more, allowing the Spirit to pray through me to bring about God’s will.
It is also a means of heavenly worship, for we can join the angels of heaven as we sing to Him in the Spirit. “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding” (1 Cor. 14:15).
God moves in this world by invitation through prayer, and, when we don’t know what to pray, He, who is all-knowing, supplies the prayer through us surrendering our mouths to our prayer language. “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27).
Instead of our own words, based on our own thinking, let Him fill our mouths with His words, according to the mind of Christ. “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Ps. 81:10).
If your prayer language has been on your spiritual shelf, take it down, dust it off, and use it, and the embers that were once a fire will be stirred back to flame; lukewarmness and complacency will leave, and the first love will return, along with hearing the voice of the Spirit, and the overflow of the Lord’s love within, as well as inspiration for service to others. And then, we maintain the fire as we pray continually, according to God’s Word, praying in the spirit throughout the day.
In these last days, we need all the Lord has given us, and He needs us to use His gifts so that He can use us effectively for His plans and purposes. “Do not wait,” says the Lord. “The time for the restoration of my plans for you is Now!”
