The Spirit – When?
I hope I have answered some questions about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit this week, and I want to end with one more simple question: when are you going to do it?
Here's a simple answer: why not as soon as possible?
One Minister's Journey to Being Filled
I don't want to give you the impression that this will be easy. Let me share with you the testimony of a Presbyterian minister named Lloyd Ogilvie, whose moment of being filled with the Spirit took some time. He writes:
"I'll never forget it as long as I live. After completing my postgraduate work, I began my work as a Presbyterian pastor. I was washed, starched, and almost insulated from any authentic power from on high. I was more concerned about the robes I wore than about being fully clothed with the Holy Spirit, more concerned about my collar than my Bible. Nothing was happening in my church.
I decided I would either leave the ministry, or I would receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit that Jesus described in the 14th-16th chapters of John. I went away for the summer. I took my Bible with me and nothing else. I can still remember it. A long, lonely beach. I walked and talked with the Lord. I talked and I prayed for a whole month.
On the day before I was to leave, on the beach, in the sand, I took a stick and wrote all the things that were standing in the way of the total Lordship of Christ in my life. My insecurities, fears, frustrations, the devices of human manipulation of people, my longing for power, for recognition, my pride, arrogance - I wrote it in the sand.
Then I got to my knees, and Jesus repeated in my soul what he had told his disciples: 'Apart from me you can do nothing.' There, whilst I was on my knees, Jesus fulfilled his promise: 'Abide in me and I in you.' An electric current began at the top of my head and moved to the soles of my feet. The power of Christ, the abiding Spirit, transformed my life. I moved from knowledge of my own education to the gift of knowledge, from my own insight to God's wisdom."
Don't Keep Putting It Off
For him, it took a month of focused prayer and communion with God, seeking this moment. I think for many of us, it will take some doing. It's not just a quick prayer and then we have it. It's a true moment of putting your whole life before God and asking Him to cleanse and fill you. It's no good trying to do that on a whim. You have to desire it deeply, seek it fervently, and commit to continuing in it daily.
Of course, maybe you do fulfil those requirements now, today! If so, have that moment with God now. Do it!
But if you don't feel ready, don't keep putting it off. Why not spend a week fasting and praying about this? Why not study and read more, with a goal to having this moment soon?
It’s Pentecost on Sunday. Why not pray now that God does something huge in your heart on Sunday?
The answer to the when question is as soon as you have fulfilled the requirements of absolute faith in God's willingness and ability to do it, absolute commitment of all of your life to Him, and absolute determination to rely on Him to sustain you in that baptism daily.
May you fulfil the requirements and receive that infilling of the Spirit - soon!
The baptism of the Spirit requires deep desire, earnest seeking, and complete consecration - but the Spirit is ready and willing, so don't keep putting it off.