In 1895, Pandita Ramabai started a home in India to rescue and provide a safe place for young women who had been left destitute as a result of child marriages or because they became widowed. By 1900, she had up to 2,000 people she had taken in because of a famine that hit the land. She wanted to help the Hindu women realize that they could have new life in Christ. Minnie Abrams was a missionary who joined her work in India and became a significant connection to the Pentecostal revivals outside of India. Her booklet on Spirit baptism came at a time when there was very little literature on the subject because up until that point, baptism of the Holy Spirit had been a rare phenomenon.
-Taken from Spreading Fires by Allan Anderson
Starting the New Year in (Jan.) 1905, Pandita Ramabai became convicted to begin praying for revival. She shared her hunger with others and enlisted seventy people to join her. By the end of the revival there were 550 meeting two times a day to pray. Six months later, she urged people from the Bible School there to give up their “secular studies and go out into the villages” to preach the gospel. Thirty women responded to this call and began to pray daily with each other for more of Jesus when the revival hit.
On June 29, 1905 at 3:00a.m., the Holy Spirit fell on one of her volunteers. Check out how cool this is. “The young woman sleeping next to her awoke when this occurred, and seeing the fire enveloping her, ran across the dormitory, brought a pail of water and was about to dash it upon her, when she discovered that she was not on fire. In less than an hour nearly all of the young women in the compound gathered around, weeping, praying, and confessing their sins to God. The newly Spirit baptized girl sat in the midst of them, telling what God had done for her and exhorting them to repentance.”
The very next day, June 30th, Pandita was teaching on John 8 in her “usual quiet way” when the Holy Spirit fell and stirred up intense intercession amongst the girls that she had to stop talking. The room was filled with the presence of God and many were weeping and praying, hungering after God. From that point on, there were many prayer meetings and classes in the school were suspended because of what God was doing. Many experienced a deep burning of the fire of the Holy Spirit, causing them to realize at a deep level the price Jesus paid for them. This was followed by a great joy of their salvation that followed.
-Taken from The Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire written by Minnie F. Abrams in 1906
Holy Spirit come and begin to increase the hunger in our hearts for You and the salvation of those around us. Let your fire fall, even if it is at 3 a.m., so come, stir us, baptize us afresh and completely with Your Holy Spirit. And always remain the focus of what we seek. Keep our eyes on seeking You rather than experiences. But with that, help us not neglect the gifts You are longing to pour out. So come.
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