What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

This is a highly controversial subject, Ruth, depending a great deal upon the personal faith experience of whomever you speak with. There are those who love Jesus who adamantly oppose everything considered “charismatic” or “Pentecostal” for a variety of reasons. Likewise, there are those who love Jesus who have a variety of reasons for accepting the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the various gifts of the spirit, and the whole experience with all of its bells and whistles.

I think the most important factor is your understanding that when you accepted Jesus into your life, you received a whole lot more than you could have ever bargained for. How He chooses to reveal Himself is based on your relationship with Him and His understanding of what you can handle and when. I am confident that He will continually surprise us with more of His Presence with whatever capacity we allow Him to fill.

Some people see salvation as a once in a lifetime event. And I agree wholeheartedly. We are saved in an instant, the second we believe that Jesus is the source of our salvation.

Some people see salvation as a process that continues throughout our lifetime. And I also agree with this concept as well. Paul talks about our working out our salvation as a type of sanctification process. This makes sense to me, because I’m very far from perfect and am constantly needing to return to that original point of contact as I mature in Christ. How that process works seems to be rather different for various types of believers.

I think the best way to describe it is to consider the fact that there were twelve tribes of Israel, yet they all were God’s chosen people. Likewise, there were twelve apostles, with different personalities and skill sets, all going in different directions and serving God. For some reason, the details of how they all differed did not seem to be important enough to be included in either the Old or the New Testament. We just know that God worked in a variety of ways in the lives of those He called to Himself.

The cool thing is that there is plenty written about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, from a variety of perspectives. So, if you’re interested, you can read to your heart’s content.

My suggestion would be, however, to keep things simple. Ask the Holy Spirit Who lives in you, based on the finished work of Jesus, to do whatever is necessary in your heart at whatever time is best. Then trust the Spirit to show you what you need to know–from the inside where the Spirit already resides. Don’t be afraid of doing something crazy–unless, of course it’s your personality already–the Holy Spirit is gentle and loving at all times and will always bring peace.

Hope this helps.

One thing I find interesting is the way the Bible describes the events at Pentecost. When the Apostles came out of the room, and were filled with the Holy Spirit, there was a massive crowd waiting for them, many from all over the Empire. There were Jews, of course, but the Bible also says there were people there from “Asia” – which to the Roman world was modern Turkey and the Caucasus region, there were Arabs, Egyptians, Greeks, undoubtedly some Romans, probably people from the Western Empire – what would become Spain and France – and North Africa. I also have little doubt there were traders from modern Asia as well – it is well established that there was a high level of trade between Rome and China during this time, and Jerusalem was, and remains, a crossroads of culture and trade, it’s one of the reasons the area is so contested in history. The Bible says that the Apostles spoke in their own words, and each person heard them in their native tongue. So Peter and the rest were speaking in Aramaic Hebrew – their mother tongue – and each was hearing them as if they were speaking their own language. If I were there, I would have heard English. What is amazing is I have witnessed this in the field, with people speaking and understanding each other, but not speaking the same language. God acted as the interpreter, and caused the ear and mind of the listener to hear the words. Later in the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 12, we see a list of, and explanation of, the gifts of the Spirit, and how they are to be used. Speaking in tongues is touched on, in that same book. I find it interesting that speaking in tongues is clearly listed as a tool for use in conveying God to unbelievers, not to believers, and if it is used in church, there must be someone there to translate it. I have been in church services where people began to speak in gibberish, loudly, swaying and stumbling. I felt a great wave of evil wash over me when that happened. I felt dirty. No one stood up to translate, and the pastor exclaimed what a wonderful gift we had been given, that the woman had been “taken by the Spirit” and we had witnessed a miracle. I agree, she was taken by a spirit, but I don’t think it was the one that she would have wanted. We are told by the writer in 1 Corinthians that the gift of Prophecy is for the edification of believers. Now, what exactly prophecy is, we are not really clear of in our modern philosophies. We have been brainwashed to believe that “prophecy” means foretelling the future, and that alone. Well, sure, that is a part of it, but that’s like saying the ocean has salt in it. “Prophecy” means to reveal the unknown, to make the unknowable known and visible. When a person stands before another, and reveals knowledge of that person they have absolutely no way of knowing, that is prophecy, I believe, in the way the writer intended. We are told over and over in 1 Corinthians that our gifts must bring unity, or they are not serving their godly purpose.
The Charismatic Movement seeks to have obvious, outward expressions of Gods presence in their meetings, and there is nothing wrong, or misplaced, or evil in that intent. Unfortunately, it is too often used by charlatans – yes, that’s a harsh word, but call a duck a duck – to establish a grip on a crowd seeking truth and proof, and are so deeply desirous of seeing proof of what they believe they will cling to anything which gives them that proof, like a sailor will cling to a piece of wood in the ocean, adrift. We do not see the miraculous as often today in the First World as the Bible describes – though my understanding is if you go out in the field, in lands like Africa and the jungles of South America, you will see miracles coming out of the very ground you walk on – and so we demand the miraculous, and there are always those who will give it to us, whether it is real or not. I spent several months going to a church with my wife’s family when we moved back to California after I was discharged from the Navy many years ago. I had been seriously injured in the service, walked with a cane, and took painkiller pills like they were candy. This particular church was very charismatic. It was at this church the woman spoke in “tongues” and the pastor praised it. One day they had a “healing” service. Now, healing by faith happens. I’ve seen it too often to not believe it does. The pastor walked right up to me, and said to me – while waving the microphone in my face – that if I had faith, I would be healed. He took my cane away, and told me to walk. I took one step, and collapsed in agony when my hip wrenched, and my spine couldn’t take it. Did the pastor help me up? No, he turned to the crowd – the mob would be a better word – and announced that I obviously didn’t have enough faith, or God would have healed me instantly, right there and then. It was my fault that I didn’t dance for joy, not that God didn’t have it in His plan for me to be healed yet. My wife’s grandfather looked at me like I was a bug he had seen crawl from out of an apple he had just bitten into, and the people around me turned and whispered to each other behind their hands. That was the last time I went to that church. I spent months studying the “Gifts of the Spirit” after that, and saw that what was being taught was wrong, and contradictory to the Bible. I brought this to the attention of my Grandfather-in-law, who said that he understood my position, but that the “good accomplished by what (the pastor) did far outweighed the negative of him not being entirely biblically sound.” This coming from a man who works for a major tract company, pushing an extremist view of Christianity, who says that we need to cling to what is true, and deny what is wrong or false.
We are told, time and again, that our Gifts – and we are all given a gift, like the author said – are for witnessing and unifying the Church. We are specifically told that not everyone gets the same gifts. “It is given to some to prophecy – to reveal the unknown – and some to discern spirits *my particular gift* and to some are given the power to heal” we are told. You may not be endowed with the gift of Tongues, so don’t feel like you are not touched by the Spirit because you haven’t experienced it. The author goes on to say “a foot does not look at the hand and say ‘I will not do my job because I am not a hand’, nor an eye to the tongue say ‘because I cannot speak I am not part of the body’”. We are all part of the body of Christ. We all have different and divergent roles we play. But we work in unity and unison to make the body work as a whole. A body made entirely of feet will fail, as will a body made entirely of tongues – not to mention that would be one freaky looking body.
Thanks for those who read my lengthy response. I hope I help in some puny way.
May God bless you and keep you, may His grace shine upon you and bring you peace.

This was awesome in how Stephen expressed this: “I think the most important factor is your understanding that when you accepted Jesus into your life, you received a whole lot more than you could have ever bargained for. How He chooses to reveal Himself is based on your relationship with Him and His understanding of what you can handle and when. I am confident that He will continually surprise us with more of His Presence with whatever capacity we allow Him to fill.” I love this topic, as I was raised old school Latin Catholic, so the ‘Holy Spirit’ as I now know it, exceeds all of what I ever knew and expected when making the sign of the Cross and ending it in Holy Spirit, Amen. Yes, I was baptized, yes I made my communion, and even confirmation. I went to catechism. But I never received the joyous, redemptive message of Christ and his gift of His Holy Spirit as an active and motivational impetus in my life. At the age of mid forties, HE began calling. He must have really thought I was old enough to handle some pretty ‘in your face’ appearances, as He began to show up everywhere. Let’s take the gal who raised her son alone, who never had a dad, who made a ‘horrific’ list of bad choices, who was church homeless without enough conscience to find one and turn her into a missionary, who can feel my Presence and allow her to quit the Corporate world to follow me and work in ministry, sometimes paid and sometimes not paid. That is the Holy Spirit. He fills us with so much love and aspiration, that we do things that we would never even think of on our own.
Being a mom of a son who found a solid foundation in Christ when he met his Christian girlfriend relieved me from trying to explain all I had been through, and how I am where I am today. Sanctification is a life long process, and everyone is at a different place in their faith journey learning different things according to when Christ thinks we can handle his Divine Revelation. My son, got his first divine appointment last week at 34 years old. I mean first “big one”. He has had a terrible time at work with disrespect from higher up and a Regional Manager that could be deemed Satan’s assistant if allowed. Manipulation, ill-will, deception, you name it. My son has been in prayer for a very long time, and one day began to talk to me about it. Since I have the history of not knowing God could communicate with me with the Holy Spirit, I made sure that Brandon wasn’t just praying up, but listening for His still small voice. Through devotions, prayers, and patiently waiting (the last one not being his strong suit at all, at any time….), he calls me and tells me that he heard God clearly say that he was supposed to move closer to Art, his Regional Manager and effect his life. Turns out this man used to be a pastor, and through a succession of things during his lifetime, seems to have left Our Creator for Corp greed and power. My son is up for promotion and through the process was put through unreasonable emotional and psychological punishment for an exceedingly stellar performance. His conversation with me was remarkable in that it wasn’t about the position he may be able to secure, it was for this man’s salvation and return to Christ while breaking bread with him during his lunch and learning his story. My son said, “mom, I know it is God’s will, as I would never have thought this up myself…”. So he has called the Regional and asked him to meet him for lunch. This lunch is Wednesday (tomorrow). He said, “I have no idea what I am supposed to do exactly.” After all these years, I was able to finally say, “it is ok, that is the way the Holy Spirit works. You show up, you open your heart and whatever you are supposed to say, will be given to you.” “you will be fine.” It truly is a supernatural power for us to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. Yes, it can be frightening. But He will take us places we never imagined we would ever be able to go, and in the end we will always be thankful, have a richer more rewarding life because of Him, and affect others to be ‘more appropriately human.’