How to receive the Holy Spirit is one of the supposed common questions that most newly repented and growing believers often ask. There is this fiery desire and craving to be baptized by the Holy Spirit when one gets newly born again.
I vividly remember my experience, how it was for me as a newly repented believer, the burning zeal inside to know more.
I wanted to know how to receive the Holy Spirit anointing and to be used by the Holy Spirit. I wanted to know how to receive the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues.
It is usually an assumed expectation for newly repented believers to yearn for this experience. Yet, this experience is part of God’s grand design that every believer must be part of. Hence we all desperately need to know how to receive the Holy Spirit, just as the early disciples did.
It is imperative and indispensable to understand how to receive the Holy Spirit baptism in our walk with Christ because we are incomplete without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to carry out the will of God and function in our lives, to manifest the fruit of the Spirit.
So how do we receive the Holy Spirit, is there a prayer to receive the Holy Spirit, and how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit? How do I know I have received the Holy Spirit? How to know if you are filled with the Holy Spirit?
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is essential to our Christian life and communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence how to receive the Holy Spirit is one of the most contemplated themes in the scriptures.
The argument has lingered for ages, with two different primary schools of thought and opinions. Some believe that how to receive the Holy Spirit is to tarry and pray for it after repentance. Hence it happens x number of days after repentance.
They got their reference from Luke 24: 49, when Christ commanded the disciples to tarry, and in Acts 2: 38 and they received the Holy Spirit after tarrying. Another popular opinion has it that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit happens at the point of salvation.
Hence how to receive the Holy Spirit is to repent and pray the sinner’s prayer to accept Christ, and they explain further the different incidents that occurred in the book of Acts. These are the two primary schools of thought.
Before we further discuss how to receive the Holy Spirit, let us look into some basic things we need to understand to help us understand how to receive the Holy Spirit, so let us briefly discuss the promise of the Holy Spirit.
The Promise Of The Holy Spirit
The coming of the Holy Spirit is part of God’s redemptive plan, and it has long been promised and prophesied about in the Old Testament.
All of the Old Testament prophets and the Old Testament books prophesied about the coming of the Holy Spirit, directly or indirectly.
Still, we are going to look into a few verses. Ezekiel 36: 26 – 27 (NIV) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
And then, when it comes to the New Testament, Christ in John 16: 7 (NIV), “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away.
Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you,” and also in “In Luke 24: 49 (NIV) “I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
And in Acts 2, the promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. The Holy Spirit was given to come and dwell in every believer. Paul said in Romans that.
The Personality And Work Of The Holy Spirit
Our Christian living is a nonentity without the Holy Spirit, and practical Christian living is interwoven with the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to believe the gospel message and to live as believers. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to live a life pleasing to God.
But before we fully elucidate the work of the Holy Spirit, lets us briefly discuss the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person in the Godhead. He is one and co-equals with the Father God and God the Son and shares all of their attributes.
The work is major to form a spiritual union between the Trinity and humanity. The Holy Spirit makes us believers and helps us to remain believers. The Holy Spirit brings the presence of the Trinity into our life to abide with us forever.
Therefore says Jesus, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28: 20). For further discussion on this topic, you can check out this blog, what is the Holy Spirit in the Life of a born-again Christian?
How To Receive The Holy Spirit (The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit)
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is something every believer must experience. It is an intrinsic part of the Christian life. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the placing of the believer into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is what happens when one becomes born-again. The Holy Spirit carries the person and baptizes the person into the Spirit of Christ, making the person be in the same union with Christ.
The very word baptism means to be thoroughly whelmed or immersed, as it is in water baptism.
In water baptism, a person is fully absorbed into the water, and in Spirit baptism, a person is fully immersed into the Spirit of God. It is an experience that happens at the new birth, it isn’t separate from the new birth, but rather it is intertwined with the new birth.
To receive the Holy Spirit today, we don’t tarry and wait on him. Just like the early Apostles did, we ask and receive Him. We don’t have to work for it, fast for it, live righteously to get, become deserving for, or become justified for it. All we have to do is simply to ask for it, which is how to receive the Holy Spirit according to the bible.
How To Receive The Holy Spirit And Be Born Again, 9 Ways
1. Come To God In Faith And Not Fear
The Bible says it is only through faith we can approach God (Hebrews 11: 6 – 7), and it also says we can come boldly approaching the throne of grace to obtain mercy (Hebrew 4: 16).
To go to God by faith means to believe that God exists as the Supreme Sovereign Lord over all that exists, to believe that He created all things by Himself and for Himself.
And we should not approach God with fear of being rejected by Him, no! But we should come boldly, approaching the throne of God to obtain mercy for our sins.
When we approach God as Supreme Lord overall, we should have in mind that He loves and wants to have a relationship with us, not based on our righteous acts but on what Christ has done for us.
It is what Christ did that made God pour out His Spirit. Hence one of the ways on how to receive the Holy Spirit is to approach God with faith and not fear.
2. Keep Your Eyes And Mind Fixed On Christ
Adam’s sin caused humanity to be utterly depraved, hence we have nothing good to offer that can please God or to earn anything from God. So when God wants to relate with us, it is not based on what we have done or what we can do, but rather it is based on Christ.
So one of the ways on to receive the Holy Spirit is to keep our eyes and thoughts fixed on Christ and His finished works. All our attention and focus should be on what Christ did on the cross.
We should understand and always have in mind that Christ died the worse kind of death in His time here on earth so that He can bring salvation for us to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So we should fix our gaze on Christ because only through Christ can we receive the gift of salvation, which is the Holy Spirit.
3. Accept That You Are A Sinner And Can’t Help Yourself
To accept that you are a sinner is to accept when the Bible says, “for all have sinned” (Romans 3: 23). We all have sinned because the first man Adam sinned.
Hence there is no righteous act that can ever come from us, and the only thing we deserve is death because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6: 23).
When we accept this fact and come to God as helpless sinners who depend on nothing but the gift of salvation He has given us in Christ, who rely on His grace, it is one of the ways on how to receive the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “the poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of God” (Matthew 5: 3).
4. Come To God In Humility
In a world full of pride, arrogance, and self-worth, humility is what God demands from us. Humility is one of the foundational keys to approaching God.
To be humble means being willing to learn. It means to be modest and respectful, the opposite of arrogance and pride.
It is to think of yourself as one without any sense of self-worth. If we come to God in the manner of being worthless and ignorant and willing to learn his ways, we will be baptized into the family of God. Because it is the Holy Spirit that will teach us, lead and guide us in the ways of God.
This is one of the ways by which you can receive the Holy Spirit is to come to God in humility. Jesus came to bring salvation to humanity, and interwoven in salvation is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
5. Confess And Repent From Your Sins
To confess your sins means acknowledging your wrongs, and repenting means turning from doing evil.
These two always go together because it makes no difference to do one and leave the other. Interestingly, it is one of the ways one can to receive the Holy Spirit.
Remember that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the placing of the believer into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation, which by implication, Baptism of the Holy Spirit is interwoven with salvation. To receive salvation also means to receive the Holy Spirit.
To receive salvation, one must accept your wrongs and change your old path and follow Christ. By doing this, we’ll receive the Holy Spirit.
6. Believe In Your Heart That Christ Died For Your Sins
To believe in your heart that Christ died for your sins means to believe in the finished works of Christ. It is to believe in the life, assignments, and purpose of Christ. The Bible calls Christ the lamb of the world that was slain even before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13: 8).
Christ died to bring salvation to humanity, and whoever believes in Christ will be saved (John 3: 16). So how to receive the Holy Spirit is to believe in our hearts that Christ died for our sins.
7. Confess Christ As Lord With Your Mouth
The factual truth is that Christ is Lord over all, whether we admit it. But to confess Him as Lord with your mouth means to accept His Lordship over your life. When one accepts the Lordship of Christ, it means Christ totally submits to His will and purpose.
When we submit to the will and purpose of Christ, it means we want to follow Christ. Christ then baptizes us into the family of Christ, which is also how to receive the Holy Spirit.
8. Pray To Receive The Holy Spirit
To pray to receive the Holy Spirit does not mean it is the prayer that will cause God to do it, but rather it only means that you are receiving the gift of salvation that had already been given to humanity.
The prayer to make here is a prayer of confession of sins and accepting the gift of grace, which is the Holy Spirit that has already been given to humanity for ages now.
When we do it, we are actually not praying for the Holy Spirit to be given. We are rather acknowledging what has been given. This is also how to receive the Holy Spirit.
9. Keep Yielding
The point where we keep yielding to the Holy Spirit means we have already received him, but we need to keep being filled by the Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
The infilling of the Holy Spirit is what every believer should keep longing for because it is a lifetime thing.
It is what empowers us to manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Whenever we yield and get the infilling of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to for good works.
Conclusion
If you are a believer in Christ, it rests assured that you already have the Holy Spirit indwelling in you, and you don’t need any extra activity or tarrying to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Rather what you have to do is to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and then you will manifest the fruit of the Spirit which is Godly living (Galatians 5: 22 – 23).
But if you are not a believer in Christ, How to receive the Holy Spirit is to come to God in all humility, acknowledge your sins, ask for forgiveness, submit to Christ, and acknowledge Christ.
Then plead with Christ to come into your life, and He will immerse you into His Spirit. Christ is always there waiting for you to make up your mind and receive Him. Make the move today and enjoy the rest in Christ.
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