WHEN DO WE RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Author: Sakkie Parsons
Someone wrote to me to find out if I can help with this question:
“When do we receive the Holy Spirit?”
The way I understand it according to the Word is as follows:
I am referring to someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as his/her Saviour and Redeemer and who can therefore say without a doubt that Jesus Christ is our Lord.
1 COR 12:3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed”, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
So when does someone receive the Holy Spirit?
The answer according to my understanding of the Word is: The moment someone really accepts Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Redeemer, not just with words but in their hearts, that person will receive the Holy Spirit to dwell in them.
My hero Paul, explained it like this:
EPH 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
EPH 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Some people might confuse the workings of the gifts of the Holy Spirit with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
I will give this example from the Word, that indicates that everyone who repents and accepts Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Redeemer, receives the Holy Spirit, as you have already read, and this happens with no outward sign.
Firstly the following:
Jesus says:
JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
In other words, no one can go into Heaven without the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, and then we also see that:
LUKE 23:39 One of the criminals who had been hanged [on a cross beside Him] kept hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us [from death]!”
LUKE 23:40 But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
LUKE 23:41 We are suffering justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
The man then accepted Jesus as his Saviour and Redeemer. Without any outward sign, just according to the testomony of his words
LUKE 23:42 And he was saying, “Jesus, [please] remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”
Then Jesus said – and this proves to me that the man received the Holy Spirit and was ready to go to Heaven.
LUKE 23:43 Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
You see –
Someone can accept Jesus as their Saviour and Redeemer on their death bed and still receive the Holy Spirit to dwell in them.
Sadly there are also Christians who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, but they do not submit to the Holy Spirit in order for the Holy Spirit to take control over their lives.
Then there is also another group, who emphasises the emotion in their religion and in many of these cases satan will take this as an opportunity for him to benefit.
I have met people in my life who will speak in their tongues frequently but they have no fruits of the Holy Spirit. In fact, their lives was directly opposite of what a Christian’s life should look like.
I am myself very thankfull for the emotion within my worship, but I will never build my religion upon my emotion.
You and myself who has accepted Christ as our Saviour and Redeember, we have the Holy Spirity living inside of us.
Now we need to allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives, so that we can bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
What “Fruit of the Holy Spirit” am I referring to?
GAL 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
GAL 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
And then, who knows which of the gifts of the Holy Spirit our Lord will also give to us. Of the gifts of the Holy Spirit there are three references in the Word. A List of gifts of the Holy Spirit, and if you read all three, you will have a complete list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as we will find them in the Word.
The first list is in
ROM 12: 6-8
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them accordingly: if [someone has the gift of] prophecy, [let him speak a new message from God to His people] in proportion to the faith possessed;
7 if service, in the act of serving; or he who teaches, in the act of teaching;
8 or he who encourages, in the act of encouragement; he who gives, with generosity; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy [in caring for others], with cheerfulness.
The second list will be found in 1 COR 1 :8–10 but I will quote
1 COR 12:7 – 11
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit [the spiritual illumination and the enabling of the Holy Spirit] for the common good.
8 To one is given through the [Holy] Spirit [the power to speak] the message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] the word of knowledge and understanding according to the same Spirit;
9 to another [wonder-working] faith [is given] by the same [Holy] Spirit, and to another the [extraordinary] gifts of healings by the one Spirit;
10 and to another the working of miracles, and to another prophecy [foretelling the future, speaking a new message from God to the people], and to another discernment of spirits [the ability to distinguish sound, godly doctrine from the deceptive doctrine of man-made religions and cults], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues.
11 All these things [the gifts, the achievements, the abilities, the empowering] are brought about by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, distributing to each one individually just as He chooses.
The third list, as I see it, you will find within the same chapter:
1 COR 12:28 So God has appointed and placed in the church [for His own use]: first apostles [chosen by Christ], second prophets [those who foretell the future, those who speak a new message from God to the people], third teachers, then those who work miracles, then those with the gifts of healings, the helpers, the administrators, and speakers in various kinds of [unknown] tongues.
Just for interrest sake, and I want you to know that I also speak in tongues. Therefor I am not unknowledgeable when it comes to speaking in tongues, but people who speak in tongues want to place this gift above others and want to give it a higher status, and this is not the way it is talked about in the scriptures. If you look at the lists mentioned you will see that speaking in tongues is right at the bottom of my hero Paul’s list.
He also said:
1 COR 14:18 I thank God that I speak in [unknown] tongues more than all of you;
1 COR 14:19 nevertheless, in public worship I would rather say five understandable words in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue [which others cannot understand].
Instruction for the Church
1 COR 14:20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children [immature, childlike] in your thinking; be infants in [matters of] evil [completely innocent and inexperienced], but in your minds be mature [adults].
To summarize my answer to this question:
• I received the Holy Spirity when I received Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Redeemer.
• Now I have to give control of my life to the Holy Spirit so that I can live according to the spirit and not according to the flesh.
• I have to strive towards gaining/showing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, then our Lord will give me one or more gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His will.
Greetings,
Sakkie