02/12/2018 - HAVE YOU BEEN BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT?

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and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Acts 19.2

Before returning to Heaven, Jesus told His disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise they had been made (Luke 24:49).  It would be the fulfillment of the events of the last days revealed by Joel.  The bestowing of power was so necessary to help the servants of the Lord to carry out the divine mission.  To carry out successfully the mission determined by God, the person needs the same anointment that the Savior had while He traveled on this Earth. 

Being baptized in the Holy Spirit, the saved receive the capacity to work in God’s plan just like Jesus did.  Therefore, the workers of the Lord who are under the direction of any church must always seek to be empowered by this anointment.  The twelve apostles could not leave the holy city without first being filled and covered with the anointment from Above.  Can we?  We cannot unless we accept the necessary and useful signs, prodigies and wonders. 

The disciples at Ephesus had not heard yet of the existence of the Holy Spirit, which proved their deficiency. To serve the Lord Jesus without the power to fulfill divine commands will lead the Christian to create situations where he will say things that he shouldn’t.  He cannot teach or pronounce something not in the Word and act like Christ using the same tools.

This matter is so serious that the disciples were forbidden from leaving the city of the great King without the power to speak of the accomplishments of Jesus for humanity.  Later on they would have to deliver the oppressed, return sight to the blind and announce the acceptable year of the Lord, the jubilee (Luke 4:18,19).  Those who try to do God’s work with the ability of men fail, because that which is born of the flesh is flesh (John 3:6).  People must be born of the water and the Spirit!

The brothers at Ephesus would not get very far if they continued without the same capacity that Jesus had when He lived among us.  How would they do the same works as Christ?  The devil is astute and will do everything to confound God’s worker. If one does not have the power to cast out demons, heal the infirm or any other work, he will be ashamed and defeated by the enemy.  Success in mission is only available to those that possess this anointment.

If you have not yet been baptized by the Holy Spirit, seek to be urgently.  If you don’t, your faith will not reach the expectations of those who have the power from Above.  He who called us to His Kingdom knows what we need during our walk, which is why He gives of His Spirit for us to complete the mission with honors.  This is our preparation!  In this way we will present ourselves to be approved by the eternal God. 

With the fullness of the Holy Spirit you are ready to testify concerning Jesus, taking salvation to the defeated and submitted to all sorts of sin and shame.  Filled with this anointment, you will fulfill the will of the Almighty and be His representative.  

In Christ, with Love, 

R. R. Soares