“There is no joy that in any way compares with the joy of the fullness of the Holy Ghost. Reader, do you know the joy of the Lord? Have you received that peace that passeth understanding? Are you able to bear ridicule for Jesus’ sake, with sweetness and forbearance? Are you able to give witness day by day in your daily life, and by your words, of Jesus’ power to save? If not, then you need to be empowered by the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire to live a victorious life, and to obey the command to Jesus to make disciples. Matt. 28:19,20. Let me urge you to seek this great blessing which was promised to us by the Father. ‘How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.’ ‘Ask and it shall be given you.’ Luke 11:13,9.”
Written by Minnie Abrams in 1906 at a time when teaching on Spirit baptism was rare, and taken from her booklet The Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire. She was a missionary with Pandita Ramabai in the Mukti Revival in India.
Have we experienced this full measure of God’s presence and Spirit in our lives today? It was at the heart of the Azusa Street revival, and at the heart of what started the great revival at the beginning of the twentieth century. People hungry to experience the Holy Spirit completely through Spirit baptism is really at the heart of Pentecostalism’s origins.
I do think it is important to not become too obsessed in seeking out an experience. But at the same time, what if we are missing out on something because God has such a wonderful gift He wants to give us, yet we are not seeking it out, not taking hold of the already promised gift. This already promised gift that people in the early twentieth century took hold of affected their lives greatly. From 1906-1910, more than 50 countries were visited by missionaries that came out of the Azusa Street revival. That is a pretty amazing statistic coming from a movement that at its core was made up of people hungry to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The gift of tongues following that experience was also of great importance for the people back then. Many people experienced greater anointing, increased satisfaction in Christ, more conviction to evangelize, and deeper love than they had before.
So what if this CHRISTmas time, God wants to give us a new gift, a new present that we haven’t experienced thus far. This gift won’t save us, for we have already received His Son. But this new present coming in the form of the Holy Spirit rather than a baby wrapped up in swaddling cloths may have a significant and profound effect on our lives as it did others a century before us. This CHRISTmas time, maybe it is time to specifically ask God for a new gift. It doesn’t hurt to ask and the results may be astonishing, as they were in the early 1900’s.
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