By Larry Kreider

The story is told of a Christian man, who lived in a poor village in the interior of his nation and had the opportunity to visit a big city. Having never experienced the use of electricity before, he was fascinated when he saw electric light bulbs for the first time. He asked his host if he could have one to take back to his home. When he got back to his village, he hung the light bulb on a string in his hut. He was frustrated because it would not work, until a missionary explained to him that it must be plugged into a power source.

To enter into the fullness of what God has planned for our lives, we have no greater need than to be plugged into the power source of the Holy Spirit. We need the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is the gateway into a new dimension of the Spirit’s presence and power in our lives, and it empowers for ministry.

At the time of our salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. He leads and motivates us to live holy lives and delivers us from the bondage of sin. Romans 8:9 says, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if any does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”

During Jesus’ last talk with his disciples before His trial and crucifixion, He promised them they would receive the Holy Spirit (see John 14:17). Subsequently, after His resurrection, Jesus visited the disciples and breathed on them saying, Receive the Holy Spirit” (see John 20:22).

At that moment, the disciples were born again by the Holy Spirit. Although the disciples had already confessed Jesus as Lord and were saved according to the old covenant provisions, they could not have been born again before Jesus was raised from the dead. Jesus had to come and give them His resurrection power according to the New Covenant. Now they also believed that Jesus was raised from the dead, and their salvation was completed. 

When God took a hunk of clay in the Garden of Eden and breathed on it, Adam was formed and received physical life. Here, God breathed on the disciples and gave them spiritual life. When you were convicted of your sin before you received Christ, the Holy Spirit was outside of you bringing conviction. When you received Christ He came inside to live within you. But there’s more! The New Testament depicts two distinct yet complementary aspects of receiving the Holy Spirit – the experience of the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit on “Resurrection Sunday” that we just described, and the experience they later received on Pentecost Sunday. Let’s compare the two experiences.

After the disciples’ encounter with the Holy Spirit, when Jesus breathed on them and told them to “receive the Holy Spirit” in John 20:22, He made it clear that their experience was still incomplete. And His final words to them before His ascension, He commanded them not to go out and preach immediately, but to go back to Jerusalem and wait their until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and thus given the power they needed to be effective witnesses. “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:4-5,8)

So the disciples prayed and waited. During the festival of Pentecost, one hundred and twenty of His disciples were gathered together in one place, and it happened! “When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4, emphasis mine).

Here the disciples experienced the mighty baptism in the Holy Spirit. Although they Had received the life of the Holy Spirit only a few weeks before when Jesus breathed on them (see John 20:22), this time they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They received a new dimension of the Holy Spirit’s power.

This distinction between receiving the Holy Spirit at rebirth and receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit is significant. We need to recognize the difference between having the Holy Spirit living within us and being baptized in the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is the Lord’s provision for releasing the power of the Holy Spirit into the believer’s life.

I often explain the power of the Holy Spirit like this. If you mow a lawn you can do it with scissors or with a lawn mower. It is your decision. You do not have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to be a Christian, but like using the mower, God wants us to be effective. In fact the early disciples of Jesus made being filled with the Holy Spirit a 

requirement for anyone who was to be set apart for special responsibility in the Church. “Brothers, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them” (Acts 6:3).

The baptism in the Holy Spirit increases the effectiveness of a Christian’s witness because of a strengthening relationship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that comes from being filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes the personal presence of Jesus more real to us, and it results in wanting to love and obey Him more.

A survey was taken in Philippines some time back which found that each Christian who had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit brought thirty-six people to Christ compared to the one person led to the Lord by each Christian who had not received the Holy Spirit baptism. Why? The Spirit baptized Christian simply had the power of God in their lives to witness with greater effect.

The difference between receiving the Holy Spirit at salvation and being baptized in the Holy Spirit can be explained like this: You can be led to a pool of water and drink from it (receive the Holy Spirit at salvation), or you can jump fully into the water (be baptized with the Holy Spirit). It’s the same water (Holy Spirit), but you have a completely different experience.

During the late 1800s, evangelist Dwight L. Moody was preaching and saw the same two ladies sitting in the front row night after night. Nearly every night, they came up to him after his meetings and said, “Mr. Moody you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” At first he resisted their remarks. However months later, as he walked down a street in New York City, he had an experience with God and was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Results were astonishing! He preached the same sermons, but instead of two or three people getting saved at his services, hundreds, and at times thousands came to know Jesus. In his lifetime, a million people were kept out of hell because of the power of God on his life. What made the difference? The mighty baptism –in filling – of the Holy Spirit. He had received Power.