The Holy Ghost Said!
This Is An Anointing
The night that I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, he spoke two things to me. Once I knew that God had answered my prayer and filled me with his spirit, I lifted my hands and began to praise God. As I did, my hands began to tremble uncontrollably, and then fire began to come down into my hands. I thought it would engulf my entire body, but it stopped in my hands. I had never heard of such a thing and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "This is an anointing to minister to the sick." Ministering to the sick was what had started me on a quest for what was lacking in my life so he answered that hunger in a powerful way.
As he spoke to me, he also dropped a revelation into my spirit. I was a very conservative Baptist who didn't believe in women deacons or ministers. I thought that God only called men to these offices and wouldn't even go to hear a woman minister. As he dropped the revelation into my spirit, the Holy Ghost said, "Your Baptist doctrine concerning women in the ministry is all messed up." By revelation, I immediately saw that in Christ there is neither male nor female, and that the most important thing is God's call and anointing. He calls and anoints whomever he pleases, man or woman, and we shouldn't try to hinder him from doing so. Just because he primarily used man in the early church, that doesn't mean that he limited himself to only using man. He has called and anointed many women as chosen vessels down through the centuries and we should always recognize those whom God has anointed and support them in fulfilling God's call upon their life.
After praising God for some time, I tried to go to bed. When I laid a hand on my wife who was sleeping, she jumped like she was shot. The next morning she asked me, "What was wrong with you last night? You almost burnt me when you touched me last night." The fire was so strong in my hands that it was noticeable to her when I had touched her that night. For about three days I kept catching myself rubbing my hands together because the sensation was so strong in the palms of my hands. I prayed for a member of my church the next Saturday who was sick and laid hands on him as I prayed. As I finished, he shook himself and said, "I believe I am healed." He was immediately healed and at both services the next day, which was rare for him. That anointing had begun to accomplish what God had sent it to do.
Although I didn't speak in tongues for several days, the gift was definitely given the night that I was baptized in the Holy Ghost. Just like he anointed my hands without asking me, I guess I thought that he would just knock me down and speak in tongues through me if he wanted me to speak in tongues. I didn't understand that the manifestation of his gifts is a cooperative effort. He provides the anointing and you do the laying on of hands. He provides the utterance and you do the speaking. If you read in the second chapter of Acts, you will notice that the disciples did the speaking as he gave the utterance. If you refuse to open your mouth, then he won't speak a word. Utterance in tongues kept boiling up in my spirit and the Holy Spirit tried to move upon my lips and tongue to get me to speak it out, but I was ignorantly resisting. After about three days, my tongue began to feel partly numb and partly sore because I was resisting what the Holy Spirit wanted to do. I finally chose to open my mouth and begin to speak the utterance that was boiling up in my spirit. What a wonderful river of praise and prayer was released when I did!
Just because I was ignorant about how God wants to fill his children with his spirit today, doesn't mean that you have to be. If we look at the various accounts of people being baptized in the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts, we see one thing in common. The Holy Ghost always manifested his presence so that it was obvious that the people had been baptized in the Holy Ghost. Think about it. If he didn't manifest his presence, how would a person know that they had received him? They wouldn't, and that's the problem in the church today. People don't know what to expect, therefore they don't know whether they have received the Holy Ghost or not. In Acts, we see that they spoke in tongues or prophesied or both. That's still the primary way that he manifests his presence when a person receives him today. I didn't know that, and I even resisted speaking out the utterance that he was giving.
Christians are deceived today by false doctrine that says that when they got saved, they received the Holy Ghost even though there is no evidence. Don't be deceived any longer. If you don't have the supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit in your life, it's because you haven't received him. The "baptism of the Holy Ghost", the "infilling of the Holy Spirit", and "receiving the Holy Spirit" are all different phrases for the same thing. These refer to the initial experience of the Holy Spirit entering into a Christian's body to take up his abode on the inside of the body along with the person's own spirit. More than one spirit can reside in a body, and until you invite the Holy Spirit in through faith, he will reside on the outside of you. Of course, a person must become a Christian first because the Holy Spirit will not reside in a body along with an unregenerate spirit. (The vessel must be made new before you put new wine in it.)
The new birth and the infilling of the Holy Spirit can happen simultaneously as they did at Cornelius' house (Acts 10:44-48), however, these two experiences don't normally happen simultaneously and reports of it are rare today. Notice that he manifested his presence so it was obvious to everyone that they had received him. Otherwise, Peter might have required them to be circumcised before he would even have baptized them. If you spoke in tongues when you got saved, I certainly believe that you also received the Holy Ghost at the same time. But if he did not supernaturally manifest his presence when you got saved, then don't fool yourself into thinking that you also received the Holy Ghost at that time.
Don't let anyone persuade you that you have been filled with the Holy Ghost, if you don't have the supernatural evidence of the manifestation his gifts in your life. Practically all preachers ignorantly teach false doctrine because of their tradition, not because of any maliciousness. They let the power of tradition still make the word of God of none effect in people's lives just as it did in Jesus day (Mat. 15:3-6). Just like the Jews wanted to glory in a convert's circumcision, they want to glory in your salvation, not realizing that they are holding you back from the power of the Holy Ghost. However, when someone does get the fire and power of the Holy Ghost, they try to either put his fire out or put him out, so that they don't have to admit that their tradition might be in error.
The gifts of the spirit are described in chapter twelve of First Corinthians. They are all supernatural and are only given (manifested) after a person is baptized in the Holy Spirit. That's why churches that preach the baptism of the Holy Ghost see the gifts in operation and churches that don't preach the baptism of the Holy Ghost don't see his gifts in operation. They try to use doctrine to cover their powerlessness and are robbing God's children of their inheritance in this life. Salvation is God's gift to the world. Any sinner can receive salvation. But God also has gifts for his children. Once a sinner becomes a child of God, he then wants to give him the Holy Spirit to abide in him and empower him. I spent 27 years of my life as a child of God without the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I communed with God, preached his word, and was led of his spirit, but I did not receive the Holy Spirit until I was 39 years old. May God not hold it against those ministers who, because of their ignorance, told me that I received the Holy Spirit when I got saved.
From the day that I received the Holy Ghost, I have seen his supernatural gifts in manifestation in my life. When a person receives the Holy Spirit, he gives to each person several gifts as he chooses (I Cor. 12:11). Because speaking in tongues edifies oneself, and prophecy edifies the body of Christ (I Cor. 14:4), I believe he wants to give these two gifts to all who receive him. He wants everyone personally edified and edifying to the body of Christ. He does not give these gifts to those who haven't received him, and that's why you don't see them in manifestation in the denominational churches but you do in the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. You don't have to be a member of a Pentecostal church to be baptized in the Holy Ghost, but you do have to come to point where you are persuaded that it is God's gift to you and you don't want to continue life without it. You can receive in your own home like I did, but be prepared to cooperate with him in yielding your vocal organs in faith to speak the utterance that he gives. Unless you are going to allow him to manifest his presence, he will not come in to abide in you.
Beginning with wonderment over the report of three miracles, I have gone on to see God do supernatural things that I never knew were possible before that time. He has taught me the key to those three miracles. Basically it's a combination of the power of the Holy Ghost and faith. People need to hear that the same Holy Ghost that was performing miracles in the life of Jesus is still here today and wants to do the same thing through believers today. Jesus himself could do no great work in his own hometown because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5-6), and America has been greatly hindered because of unbelief. Even many of the churches that preach the baptism of the Holy Ghost, don't understand faith or know how to teach their people to walk in faith or receive by faith. Regardless of others, you can have great faith and see God do great things if you are hungry and willing to be teachable. The supernatural walk with God is so much more of a blessing to others and personally rewarding than salvation alone that only those that haven't tasted it are critical of it.