Holy Spirit

Jesus Christ says in Luke 11:13 ?-ask the Father to give you the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:10 ?those who ASK will receive ??

James 2:2 ??You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it.?

People do not have the Holy Spirit because they do not ask. Nowhere in the Bible is there a verse that says you are automatically filled with the Holy Spirit!

There are those churches that teach, when you ask Jesus Christ into your heart the Holy Spirit AUTOMATICALLY comes in as well. The verse that is used to back up this false doctrine is:

Ephesians 1:13 ? after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.

Yes, verse 13 says that once you believe in Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit. However, the verse does not say that this happens AUTOMATICALLY! Do you put a seal on an empty piece of paper? Do you seal an empty envelope? NO! Something has to be written on the paper first for it to have a seal and something has to be in the envelope before it is sealed. So it is with a Christian. They ask Jesus Christ into their heart, then they asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit and once the Holy Spirit has come into them, they are sealed by His presence.

If the Ephesian Christians had automatically received the Holy Spirit why would Paul need to pray in verse 17 of the same chapter for them to receive the Holy Spirit? In fact the Christians at Ephesus had not received the Holy Spirit as is shown in Acts 19:1-2. They hadn?t even heard of the Holy Spirit!

1/ A misinterpretation of the Trinity

2Peter 3:16 This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject. There are some difficult things in his letters which ignorant and unstable people explain falsely, as they do with other passages of the Scriptures. So they bring on their own destruction.

It is claimed that when you ask Jesus Christ into your heart, the Holy Spirit automatically comes in, as the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity. Not so! God showed me clearly that when you invite Jesus into your heart, it is he who comes in. You have not addressed the Holy Spirit and as such He will not come into your life uninvited. The devil will come into your life uninvited, but the Holy Spirit will not!

Acts 8:14-17 The believers had been baptised, but had not received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 18:1-2 The disciples had not received the Holy Spirit.

To say that a person automatically receives the Holy Spirit when they ask Jesus Christ into their heart is the devil?s greatest lie! Because if a person thinks they have the Holy Spirit then they don?t need to ask to be filled. This then means that they cannot receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (1Corinthians 2:14) People who have accepted the teaching of men, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ, do not display any signs of having received any of the gifts according to 1Corinthians 12:7-11.

Where churches preach this false doctrine they do not caste out demons, pray for the sick, allow God to use them to perform miracles, even though these acts are supposed to be done by the believers as commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. (Mark 16:17-18) Instead the lie is used, ?we have the Holy Spirit because we have the fruits of the Holy Spirit. You cannot even have the fruits of the Holy Spirit if you aren?t filled by His presence, for some Buddhists show more love, humility, self-control, patience and kindness than some Christians! So just because a person is humble, patient, kind and has self-control does not necessarily mean that they have been filled with the Holy Spirit.

2/ Without the Holy Spirit you do not belong to Jesus.

Romans 8:9 but you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells to ---- if in fact God?s Spirit lives in. Whoever, does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

3/ Without the Holy Spirit in your life you cannot worship God the way he wants

John 4:24 Jesus said, "God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is."

4/ Without the Holy Spirit you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

John 3:5 "I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus. "No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."

John 6:63 Jesus said, "What gives life is God's Spirit; man's power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit."

5/ Without the Holy Spirit in your life there is no power

Act 1:2,4,8

Jesus needed the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. How much more then should we have the Holy Spirit in our life. It is a commandment by Jesus Christ to seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit there is no power in the person's life to live the way that Jesus wants them to live, they are just RELIGIOUS! It's like the steelworker going to work with his lunch in the lunchbox; however, unless he eats the lunch he will receive no energy, or power to do the day?s work.

I can relate to the above in my own life. For 5 years I had gone to the Baptist church, but had never heard a sermon on asking the Holy Spirit into my heart. I became none the wiser in my 5 years with the Church of Christ. Only at an Apostolic Church did the issue arise. During my visits to this church I became convicted that these people were on FIRE for Jesus while I was LUKE-WARM, or just PLAIN RELIGIOUS. I decided to go forward for prayer one day because I felt convicted that I wasn't what God wanted me to be. I vaguely said I wanted prayer in order that I might get closer to Jesus. They said what I needed was to be filled with God's Holy Spirit. My reply was, ?all right if that?s what it takes?. Since that prayer I haven't been the same. I haven't stopped talking about Jesus Christ and God has given me the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that signs and wonders have been happening in my life and those I come in contact with.

In my own life there were 3 distinct stages in regards to the Holy Spirit.

1/ As a child of about 14 or 15 I was attending fellowship meetings on a Friday night. During one of these meetings the leader read the passage from the Bible which talks about Peter denying Jesus Christ. During the reading I started to cry and literally could not stop for 2 or 3 hours. Looking back now I believe that God by his Holy Spirit put his mark on me, for work in later life.

2/ Agreeing to be filled with the Holy Spirit in the Apostolic Church.

3/ In my 4 years at the Apostolic Church I was constantly asked if I had been baptised in the Holy Spirit. My arrogant reply was that I had already been baptised in the Holy Spirit, after all that is what I had been taught in the Baptist Church and Church of Christ. Nor did I want to speak in tongues. Not until God intervened about 2 years later and literally took me by the scruff of the neck did I ask to receive the gift of tongues. Looking back I can now see the clear difference. For as soon as I humbled myself and got on my knees in my bedroom and told God that I was prepared to receive the gift of tongues under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I received that power Jesus talks about in Acts 1:4-8. After saying the above prayer I didn?t feel anything, but then as I was praising God, the English changed to an unknown language-tongues. The anointing of God on me was just like on the day of Pentecost for as soon as my daughter-also a Christian walked in the front door she also automatically started speaking in tongues. The same also happened to a Christian friend who walked into my home half an hour later. Since the last incident God has used me in a mighty way and I have done all those things by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus talks about --- preach the Word, lay hands on the sick, cast out demons and perform miracles - Mark 16:17-18.

The reader of this article needs to make a decision, whether to continue to follow the false doctrine of their particular church or whether they will follow the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. To follow religion means death and hell, to follow the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ means life and eternal fellowship with God in heaven!

If you have never asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit then pray the following prayer now:

Oh Lord my God, Heavenly Father I come to you now to ask you to give me the Holy Spirit. Precious Holy Spirit I ask you now to come into my life. Holy Spirit you are the teacher, I ask you to teach me to have a closer walk with Almighty God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit I also ask you to give me those gifts I will need to work for the Kingdom of God, I pray that you would come upon me now in power and fill me with your presence. (You cannot ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit unless you have first asked Jesus Christ into your heart and made Him your Lord, Master, Saviour and God.)

Marlies Zechner

contact : marlies3@bigpond.com