And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (Acts 19:1,2)
Thought: I would like to title this devotion as “Qualifications to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit”. I believe the above two verses make two things very clear:
1. There is one experience of receiving Christ as our savior, which by itself is the work of the Holy Spirit, and there is another experience that is available to us as believers, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If the experience of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that automatically happens when we receive Jesus as our savior, why would Paul ask these believers this question? OK, let us go one step further; these believers tell Paul that they were baptized into John’s baptism so Paul explains to them what John’s baptism was and goes on to baptize them in the name of the Lord. At this point we can be quite sure that this group of people in Ephesus were born-again believers but they were still void of the baptism of the Spirit. How do we know this? Even though they became born-again believers, it is only after Paul laid his hands on them that they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The point here is not how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (you can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit in many ways – by the laying on of hands or just when you ask Him to fill you in your personal prayer time), but the main point to recognize here is this: there is an experience which the Lord has made available to EVERY believer – being baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is different from our initial experience of salvation.
2. The ONLY qualification to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is this: believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior. The only question Paul asked these believers was this: “Since you believed…?”. He never asked them if they had a good prayer life; he did not ask them if they had lived a holy life; he did not even ask them to seek the Lord to see if it was His will to give them the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the Bible days there was only one qualification to receive the precious gift of the Holy Spirit and 2000-odd years later there is still just one qualification to receive this priceless gift the Lord has to offer all of us: believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Please do not even for a moment entertain the thought that you are not qualified to receive the precious gift of the Holy Spirit; you are amply qualified through Christ to receive this gift of the Holy Sprit and the Lord is eager to give you this gift for this one reason: so that you can be His witness…to the ends of the earth.
Prayer: Father, I thank You for saving me through Your son Jesus Christ. Lord, I believe You have more to offer me in my walk with You and today I am ready to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and be an effective witness for You in this hurting and lost world. Thank You for hearing my prayer. In Jesus’ name, amen.