The source of our power as already and not yet Christians (sometimes super heroes) is the Holy Spirit. And being baptized in or being filled with the Holy Spirit is the means by which we experience and move in the life and power of the Spirit.

Being baptized
The concept of being baptized in the Holy Spirit originated with John the Baptist who went around saying: “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”. Luke 3:16. Also, John 1:33-34.

After his resurrection, Jesus reminded the disciples of what John had taught when he said, “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”. (Acts 1:5), A few days later, at Pentecost, they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and experienced his power.

Peter, in explaining to the Apostles how the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles (Acts 11:16 & 17) said, “I remembered what the Lord had said, John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God!”

Baptize comes from the Greek word baptizo, which means to dip or immerse. It conveys the sense of being overwhelmed. And writing in Acts, Luke equates being baptized in the Spirit with being filled with the Spirit. (Fullness, like being immersed, is after all an overwhelming experience!)

Being baptized in the Holy Spirit occurs initially when we are converted (John 3:5-6). The Holy Spirit comes to seal you in Christ and incorporate you into the body of Christ. Ephesians 1:13-14.

While at conversion we are truly baptized in the Holy Spirit, being baptized in the Holy Spirit also happens repeatedly in us. In the New Testament, the phrase most frequently used for being baptized is something that can and needs to happen over and over again. The Spirit’s coming on the disciples at Pentecost anointed them to establish the church. Repeating fillings empowered them for prophecy, healing, apostleship and so on. We have Peter recorded as being filled with the Holy Spirit more than once (in Acts 2:4 and 4:31 respectively). And as we have seen from the above-mentioned scriptures, it is a consistent teaching that we should seek to be overwhelmed by the Spirit.

Being overwhelmed or filled
When the Great Floods came, where did the waters come from? It came from inside the earth, like a well, and an outpouring from heaven. Genesis 7:11. In John 7: 38-39 Jesus made a comparison of the Holy Spirit with water. The Spirit can overwhelm us like he did in the Old Testament by coming upon men and women from above. And since he now dwells in us, there can be a welling up from deep within us.

Anyhow, the more important point about being filled with the Holy Spirit is to experience his overwhelming influence. Coming under the overwhelming influence, being transformed, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Enabling us to personally experience and manifest the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. To actualize his power and gifts as John Wimber described.

When the Spirit comes with power experiences include shaking, sudden falls, dramatic healing, prophecy and visions, unexpected weeping and laughter, encounters with demons. Understanding the phenomena is a related topic, which we may return to study at another time. It is a substantial area of study by itself. However, if you want to learn more at this stage, John White’s book, When the Spirit Comes with Power is worthwhile reading. You can also hear a sermon on the subject online preached (on 3/23/03) by Michael Palandro, Senior Pastor of the Vineyard Church of Houston. (Click on highlight).

Wesleyan, Pentecostal and Charismatic moves of the Spirit
Jesus came to earth more than 2,000 years ago and brought in God’s sovereign rule decisively. He has inaugurated the kingdom but its consummation will take place when he comes again. These moves of the Spirit continue to bring breakthrough of the kingdom of God.

Methodists in the 19th Century believed in a post-conversion experience they called “a second blessing”. John Wesley believed that the coming of the Holy Spirit with power was for holiness. By this he thought Christians could be perfected – the sinful nature eradicated through a special anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Subsequent to this, there was a second understanding of the purpose of the Spirit’s baptism: Power for witness and service. D L Moody’s testimony of his baptism has become somewhat of a classic, “I was crying all the time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York (on Wall Street) - Oh, what a day! I cannot describe it. I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for 14 years. I can only say that God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand." Commenting on Moody’s experience, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote: That is what turned D.L. Moody from a good, regular, ordinary minister into the evangelist who was so signally used of God in this and in other countries.

Pentecostalism was born in 1901 with the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, and with it yet another understanding of being baptized in the Spirit. This move gave prominence to the third person of Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and his gifts and the phenomenon of speaking in tongues, deliverance, words of knowledge, healing and prophecy. The Charismatic renewal, which began in the 1960’s, was essentially the same phenomenon impacting on the mainline denominational and catholic churches.

We can attribute to Dennis Bennett, who wrote the “reference book”,Nine O’Clock in the Morning, an important additional understanding to being baptized in the Holy Spirit. It is not so much how much of the Spirit you get but how much of you the Spirit gets or influences. We are to make him welcomed. Invite him. Give him permission to fill all the areas of our personality and lives. (For indeed we can choose, alternatively, to shut him out, to turn away from his leading, to reserve areas of our lives for our own control).

Ask to be filled, repeatedly
From our study on the kingdom of God we have learnt that we have been delegated kingdom authority. We have work to do to continue the mission and ministry of Christ. But we need the power of the Holy Spirit to do his works, and bring kingdom breakthrough! We also desire his power for holiness and to produce the fruit of the Spirit; for witness and service; to manifest the spiritual gifts and the power of the Spirit.

We teach that anyone who has been born of the Spirit should ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit to experience and receive God’s power, repeatedly. All you need to do is ask, and say, Fill me with your Spirit. Or when praying for another person, lay hands on the person and say, Be filled with the Spirit. And expect to be filled!

Sometimes the manifestation of the Spirit is very evident and plain to see (as we mentioned above, when the Spirit comes with power). We should note that for some there is no outward manifestation but a work of God in hearts, bringing a sense of peace, of rest, or a deep assurance of his presence and love. The experience is likely to be unique and different for every one!