By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not the same as having the Spirit of God living in us. The Spirit of God in us is for a totally different purpose from the Spirit of God upon us. The role of the Holy Spirit in us is to produce life in us and reveal the truth in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit teaches us by revelation.

1 John 2: 27 “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.”

The Holy Spirit in us is also the strength through which we do things. It is the power that works in us to help us achieve things beyond what we can think or even imagine. Just as Paul did, we should pray to know the greatness of God’s power in us.

Eph 1:19-20 “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”

Now let us discuss what it means for the power of the Holy Spirit to be upon us. From the Old Testament, God has always put His Spirit in a limited measure upon anybody He wants to use to accomplish a task. The reason is God’s tasks are not accomplished with human power.

Zech 4:6 “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

So, whenever God needed someone to serve His purpose, a priest or prophet was anointed with oil, and then the spirit of the Lord came upon that person to enable them to complete the assigned tasks. We can see an example of this in the verses below. God instructed Elijah to anoint Hazael.  

1 Kings 19:15-16 “And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.”

The Old Testament Israelites had to depend on prophets and priests to reveal God’s will to them. But in this era of the New Testament, we don’t need to depend on prophets and priests to guide us because we all have the spirit of God residing in us.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is essentially the New Testament equivalent of anointing a prophet to fulfill a God-ordained purpose or task.  Every believer needs to have this spirit poured upon them to fulfill the supreme task of witnessing for Christ. It is described as an outpouring of His Spirit upon believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This empowering outpour can only be received by faith.

In Acts 2: 14 -21, we see a precise description of the manifestations of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14-21 “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,Your young men shall see visions,Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days;And they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath:Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,And the moon into blood,Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 21 And it shall come to passThat whoever calls on the name of the LordShall be saved.’”

So, we can easily deduce that God pours His Spirit upon us so we can be witnesses of the death, and resurrection of Christ. It enables us to preach the gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation between man and God made possible solely by the sacrifice on the cross.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is recorded for the first time in Acts 2: 1-4. It says “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

 A major takeaway from the above passage is that the ability to speak in tongues is evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism. Since we have God’s spirit in us and are coheirs with Christ, the fullness of His spirit is available to be poured on us just as our Lord received it after his baptism in River Jordan. All we need to do is accept it by faith and start witnessing for Christ. 

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor of Fountain Of The Living Word Church, New Jersey.