It’s nearly midnight in a crowded meeting hall, and the speaker has just announced they must close because of building regulations.
But one man in the audience rises to his feet, desperation written across his face. Don’t leave me, please! He pleads. I feel that I do not dare be left. I must receive the Holy Spirit.
Will you go home with us? This businessman had everything money could buy, a beautiful mansion in the English countryside, successful enterprises, respect in his community. Yet, something was missing, and he knew it.
What happened next on that cold winter night would not only transform his life forever, but shock everyone who knew him.
Let me tell you what happened. We arrived at their magnificent house around midnight, and immediately this businessman began fussing with the fire, adding coal, preparing for a grand supper. We will soon have a tremendous fire so we will get warmed then we will have a big supper he announced cheerfully but I had not come for comfort or food. I have not come here for your supper or for your bed, I told him plainly. I thought you wanted me to come with you so that you might receive the Holy Spirit.
The atmosphere changed instantly, will you pray with us he asked, suddenly understanding this was serious business. I have come for nothing else, I replied.
Church, let me tell you something. I knew I could keep myself warm in a prayer meeting without a fire because when the Holy Spirit shows up, everything else becomes secondary.
What happened next will amaze you. By half past three in the morning, his wife was filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance.
The power of God was moving through that house like electricity. But here’s where it gets interesting. I looked over at this businessman, and there he was at the end of the table, groaning terribly under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Your wife has received the Holy Spirit, I announced. His response will give you chills. Oh, this is going to be a big night for me. And beloved, you also will have big nights like this man had, whether you receive the baptism or not, if you will seek God with all your heart.
But let me tell you what I discovered that night. There is more done in the seeking than in any other way.
In the Scriptures, there is no such thing as seeking for the Holy Spirit specifically. But we must get to a place where we know that unless we meet face to face with God and get all the crooked places out of our lives, there will be no room for the Holy Spirit.
At five o’clock in the morning, listen to this carefully. This man stood up and declared, I am through. I am settled. God has settled me.
Now I must have a few hours’ rest before I go to my business at eight o’clock. He wasn’t baptized in the Holy Spirit yet. But something profound had happened. God had slain this man so that he could begin on a new plane in his life.
You won’t believe what happened at his business that day. In many years, he had never lived a day like that. He went about his work among all his employees, and they immediately noticed something different.
What is up with the man? What is up with the boss? What has taken place? Oh, what a change! They whispered among themselves. The whole workplace was electrified. God had turned the lion into the lamb. Glory be to God!
Formerly, he had been like a great big lion prowling about, but God had touched him. The touch of omnipotence had broken this man down, until right there in his business, the men were broken up in his presence.
But the story doesn’t end there. That night, at about ten o’clock, he was finally baptized in the Holy Spirit in a meeting.
And here’s what will bring tears to your eyes. A short time afterward, when I was passing through the grounds toward this man’s house, his two sons rushed out, threw their arms around me, kissed me, and said with joy, you have sent us a new Father.
Church, the power of the Holy Spirit creates new men and new women. The Holy Spirit takes away your stony heart and gives you a heart of flesh, just as Ezekiel 36:26-27 promises.
And when God gets his way like that, there is a tremendous shaking among the dry bones.
But let me share another encounter that will open your eyes to the spiritual battle we face.
During my lifetime, I have seen lots of Satanic forces, spiritualists, and all kinds of counterfeit spiritual manifestations.
There is a power that is satanic, and there is a power that is the Holy Spirit. And church, you better believe there’s a difference.
I remember after we received the Holy Spirit and people were speaking in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance, the Spiritualists heard about our meetings.
These imitators came in good time to fill two rows of seats, planning to disrupt what God was doing.
When the power of God fell upon us that night, these counterfeits began their shaking and moving, with utterances from Satanic forces.
But here’s what they didn’t expect: The Spirit of the Lord was mighty upon me. I went straight to them and commanded, ‘Now you demons, clear out of here!’ And out they went.
I followed them right out into the street, and then they turned around and cursed me. But it made no difference. They were out and they stayed out.
Beloved, the Lord wants us to know in these days that there is a fullness of God where all other powers must cease to be.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is to possess us so completely that we are continually so full of the Holy Spirit that utterances and revelations and eyesight and everything else may be remarkably controlled by the Spirit of God.
Now let me share something that will change the way you see things. Jesus presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by the disciples during forty days.
He is all the time unfolding to every one of us the power of resurrection. Remember this. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is resurrection.
If you can touch this ideal of God with its resurrection power, you will see that nothing earthly can remain.
You will see that all disease will clear out. If you get filled with the Holy Spirit, all satanic forces that cause fits, all these lame legs, all these foot afflictions, all these kidney troubles, and all these nervous, fearful things will go.
Resurrection is the word for it. Resurrection shakes away death and breathes life in you. It lets you know that you are quickened from the dead by the Spirit and that you are made like Jesus. Glory to God!
The word resurrection (I wish I could say it on the same level as the word Jesus). They harmoniously go together. Jesus is resurrection. And to know Jesus in this resurrection power is simply to see that you no longer have to be dead. You are alive unto God by the Spirit.
But wait until you hear about the blind woman in England who taught me another powerful lesson about the baptism.
A lady wrote, asking if I would come and help her. She was blind, having two blood clots behind her eyes.
I didn’t particularly want to travel. but I sent a letter saying that if she was willing to go into a room with me, shut the door, and never come out until she had perfect sight, I would come.
Her response was immediate, oh, come. The moment I reached the house; they brought in this blind woman.
After we shook hands, she made her way to a room, opened the door, allowed me to go in, and then came in and shut the door.
Now, she said with determination, we are with God. Have you ever been there? It is a lovely place.
In an hour and a half, the power of God fell upon us. She rushed to the window, exclaiming, I can see! Oh, I can see! The blood is gone! I can see!
Then, sitting down in a chair, she asked the question that reveals the heart of every truly hungry believer: Could I receive the Holy Spirit? Yes, I replied, if all is right with God. Now here’s what will shock you.
You don’t know me, she continued. But for ten years I have been fighting your position. I couldn’t bear these tongues, but God settled it today. I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Church, can you see what happened? God healed her physical blindness first, but then she realized she had been spiritually blind as well.
After she prayed and repented of what she had said about tongues, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues.
When you put your hands upon people to pray, you can tell when the Holy Spirit is present.
And if you will only yield to the Holy Spirit and allow him to move, my word, what will happen?
In Sweden, I witnessed the power of this childlike faith. The power of God was upon us, and more than a hundred people received the Holy Spirit in a quarter of an hour. Why?
Because they abandoned their adult caution and became like children before God.
Church, listen to me carefully. We must see that this baptism of the Spirit is greater than everything.
You can talk as you like, say what you like, do as you like, but until you have the Holy Spirit, you won’t know what the resurrection touch is.
Here’s the challenge that will separate the serious believers from the comfortable churchgoers.
Most Christians will never abandon their intellectual control to receive the supernatural power of God.
They will never become childlike enough to let the Holy Spirit have complete control.
Most believers would rather maintain their dignity than experience God’s power. Most Christians will never humble themselves enough to speak in tongues because they’re too concerned about what others might think.
Most believers will never yield completely because they want to understand everything before they surrender.
Acts 1:8, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Are you content with powerless Christianity? Are you satisfied with a form of godliness that denies the power thereof? Will you continue making excuses for why you don’t need what Jesus commanded his disciples to wait for?
The natural man cannot receive the Spirit of God, as 1 Corinthians 2:14 declares. But when you get into a supernatural place, then you receive the mind of God.
If you’re a businessman, you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. For any kind of work or calling, you need to know the power of the Holy Spirit, because if you are not baptized with the Holy Spirit, Satan has tremendous power to interfere with the progress of your life.
The man who is baptized in the Holy Spirit is baptized into a new order altogether. You cannot ever be ordinary after that. You are on an extraordinary plane. You are brought into line with the mind of God.
While I say so much about the Holy Spirit, understand that I withdraw everything that doesn’t put Jesus in the place he belongs.
When I speak about the Holy Spirit, it is always with reference to revelations of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is only the revealer of the mighty Christ who has everything for us so that we may never know any weakness.
Beloved, we must understand that the Holy Spirit cannot come until there is a place ready for him. The Holy Spirit can only come into us when we are fully yielded to him for the Spirit does not dwell in temples made with hands but in tablets of flesh that is of the heart as 2 Corinthians 3: 3 reminds us.
James 5: 7 to 8 gives us this beautiful picture, therefore be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. What is the precious fruit of the earth?
The precious fruit of the earth is the church, the body of Christ. And if you desire the coming of the Lord, you must certainly advocate having every believer filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot come until the church is ready. If believers were in an attitude of yieldedness and were in unity with God and each other God could send the breath right now to make the church ready in 10 minutes even less than that church there is nothing except the Holy Spirit that can prepare the hearts of the people for the return of Jesus Christ that is the only hope of the future.
Heavenly Father we come before you with hungry hearts, just like that businessman in England and that blind woman who received her sight. Lord, we confess that too often we have been wise in our own eyes instead of becoming childlike before you.
We have held back from complete surrender because we wanted to maintain control, but today, we choose to yield everything to you.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit right now. Let your resurrection power flow through us.
We receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit by faith. We will not settle for powerless Christianity any longer. We want the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead to quicken our mortal bodies.
Break off every limitation, every fear, every excuse that has kept us from experiencing your supernatural power.
Make us witnesses with power and boldness. Transform our homes, our workplaces, our communities, through your mighty presence in us.
We receive your authority over all the power of the enemy. We choose to become like little children, completely dependent on you. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.
I believe with all my heart that as you’ve learned about receiving the Holy Spirit today, you’ve been activated into a new realm of spiritual authority.
The understanding you’ve gained about childlike faith versus adult caution is already working in your spirit to prepare you for a fresh encounter with God’s power.
Refuse to be a powerless Christian and share one area of your life where you need God’s supernatural power to break through.
Start expecting the Holy Spirit to move in your life this week. Pray with the faith of a child, not the caution of an adult. Yield completely to whatever God wants to do in and through you.
If God can fill you with his Spirit like a child, Imagine what happens when you try living as a heavenly citizen surrounded by earthly pressures.
How do you dissolve every earthly attachment without becoming useless to family and business?
What does it look like when mortality is literally swallowed up by life, so your eyes bring instant conviction to sinners?
How do you stop knowing people according to the flesh and see everyone even difficult relatives, only through spiritual eyes.
Discover the shocking process that transforms ordinary believers into heavenly citizens walking in supernatural authority.
By Smith Wigglesworth