Chapter 15: Higher & Higher Still
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
One of the most important lessons to learn as we prepare to receive the Pentecost experience is that this gift is not for ourselves alone. We are cautioned we must not waste the gift on our own desires; it is for the use of advancing God’s kingdom. Ja 4:3, “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts”. Further, we mustn’t be exclusive and sectarian: we must be inclusive and minister to the “world church”. God’s ministry is for ALL!
Receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit when we enter Christ’s school as students, then later receiving the Pentecost experience when we graduate as full disciples are both affirmations to us from the Holy Spirit that we are accepted by Him and are being given certain rights, commensurate with our standing before Him. As students learning how to represent our Lord we go through stages of growth. First, by believing we are forgiven and believing that the HS is there for us, we become eligible for the BHS experience. Second, being given the BHS is God acknowledging that we are Righteous. Third, by then living up to all the knowledge and understanding we are given, we become eligible for the Pentecost experience. Fourth, being given Pentecost is God acknowledging that we are Holy.
“Righteousness” is the state of being sinless due to Jesus forgiving us for the transgressions we have committed. “Holiness” is the state of being sinless due to the HS keeping us from committing transgressions anymore. Surrendering to Jesus gives us His Righteousness and brings about in us a new “status”, which we don’t deserve. Receiving the BHS gives us His Holiness and brings about in us a new “nature”, which we don’t deserve.
Once we’ve entered Christ’s school, we receive the transformation of the HS and receive visits from Jesus to take us step by step in our growth until we are able to receive the full Pentecost experience. After the BHS our growth in understanding and our growth in power will advance in degrees as we can bear it. In other words, preparation for Pentecost happens progressively! (Remember that the Early Disciples had to study and learn from Jesus for more than three years before they were ready to receive their Pentecost.)
As part of the process our spiritual eyes must be healed and our spiritual sight must be restored. The opening of our spiritual eyes allows us to see what is there already; that is, blessings already given that only need to be accepted, as well as demons who are working diligently to prevent us from receiving what God is trying to give us and to keep us from advancing in our spiritual growth. We must pray for the HS to give us spiritual eyesight so we may see the spiritual realm.
Rv 3:17-18, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white raiment to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” This verse tells us we need “White Raiment”, which symbolizes Christ’s righteousness; we need “Gold”, which symbolizes Faith, and in the context of the Pentecost blessing symbolizes Jesus’ presence; and we need “Eyesalve”, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and in this context the healing of our ‘spiritual eyesight’.
2 Co 3:16-18, “But when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory and are transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory.” When Pentecost comes, we will be in the very presence of God’s glory. We must prepare for this so that once we find ourselves in front of God, we are not falling down in fear before Him like sinners before a judge, but rather are able to stand in reverence before Him like sons and daughters before their Father.
We must remind you once more that there are those within each church, no matter the denomination, who will deny the work of the Holy Spirit and will denounce those who seek the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to share with us the Holy Spirit. 2Ti 3:1,5, “In the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall … have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. From such turn away.”
Those who have no intimate experience with the HS can not understand the way He works; and what they see of His work in others frightens them. They will work tirelessly to warn other church members to “beware of fanaticism!”, and will attempt to credit the manifestations and the answered prayers to the influence of Satan. Recall from the Bible how the Saducees and Pharisees attributed the works and teachings of Jesus to the power of Beelzebub (ref.: Mt 12:24; Mk 3:22; Lk 11:15), because God was not operating in accordance with their ideas of how He should. Those religious leaders who get passed over by the HS will then denounce the work of the HS. They are blinded to the fact that their failure to receive Him is due to their unwillingness to follow the promptings of God. They instead think they are able to tell God what He should and shouldn’t do. How unfortunate it is that leaders who could be very important to God’s finishing work are closing themselves to His blessings merely because of erroneous ideas which they stubbornly refuse to allow to be corrected.
HS: OUTSIDE, INSIDE, WITH POWER
When you ask a Sincere Christian who knows a little about the Holy Spirit but who has never learned about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit if they have the Holy Spirit you may get one of a couple of different answers. Some will say, “I don’t know. Well, I know He’s working with me. So I guess I do.” They recognize that the Holy Spirit is blessing them and even guiding them. But they don’t answer with certainty because they inherently sense that they don’t yet have all that there should be. Others will say, “Oh certainly. I’m sure I have the Holy Spirit.” These too recognize that the Holy Spirit is blessing them. But they make the mistaken assumption that what they have is all there is. Both groups are correct — the Holy Spirit is ministering to them. But they don’t perceive that the Holy Spirit’s ministry to them is only external.
The Holy Spirit’s ministry comes in stages — external, internal, and with power. The experience that most are familiar with is the first stage. As described above, He is blessing you and leading you, and you can be aware of this help; but the Holy Spirit is helping you from outside of your body. After receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit enters inside you and begins to “dwell” within you. 2Co 6:16, “God has said, ‘I will dwell in them and I will be their God.” Through this dwelling within and His constant presence, He begins transforming our lives, our desires, and our way of thinking. Finally, after you’ve been changed to where all your tendencies for sin have been removed and you reflect the character of Christ, the Holy Spirit comes over you with His power. Through this Pentecost-like experience you become empowered to minister to others in the way that Jesus did, His Apostles did, and the other great personages of the Bible did. Ac 1:8, “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come over you.” 2Co 12:9, “I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
PENIEL
Ge 32:24-30 is the climax of the story that’s called Jacob’s Peniel experience. This was his night of wrestling with God. It occurred as he was returning to his homeland 21 years after running away from his brother in fear of his life. He was on his way home when he heard that Esau was coming out to meet him with an army. Jacob arranged for his family’s safety as best he could, then he went out alone and prayed with God all night.
What he thought was an angel appeared to him, so Jacob grabbed Him and said, (v26) “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” After wrestling awhile, the angel revealed that He was Jesus and said to Jacob, (v28) “Thou hast struggled with God and have won.” Jacob, understanding what he has done responds with amazement, (v30) “I have seen God face to face and lived.”
In a like manner, when we are on the verge of receiving a great blessing from God and making a great step forward in our spiritual growth, we may have to engage in a similar struggle with God in order to receive our desire. For example, when we come to the point where we are ready to receive the BHS, and again later in our experience once we come to the point where we can receive the Pentecost experience, we may have to manifest a strength of desire that will not be refused: “Lord, I won’t let You go until You bless me.” Wrestle with Him in prayer; insist on receiving the Spirit (or whatever blessing you’re seeking). You have to want it more than anything else. Examine yourself: do you really want it that badly? Be sure of the strength of your desire. For our struggle is not to convince God to give us something that He doesn’t really want us to have; our struggle is actually to know ourselves and what we truly want. Once you are sure of your desire, with no doubts, state that to God: “This is what I want; I make this choice irrevocably; and I will never turn from it.”
Once you have struggled with God, and have come to know the strength of your desire, and have declared your decision, it’s time to grasp what you are requesting by faith. It is now right in front of you: reach out and take it. “I have it! I really have it now! Praise God!!” When you have grasped it and taken possession of it, then you have prevailed with God.
A NEW IDENTITY
When we receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit a “new man” is placed in us by the Holy Spirit. Ro 6:2-7, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”(NIV)
This “new man” is from the HS, therefore this new being is holy, and remains holy always. We then have two personalities within us — the good, “new man”, and the bad, “old man”. Our task is to nurture the new man, so he will grow and become stronger; and to suppress the old man, so he will become weaker and die.
This is a process that takes years. It is also something we cannot do in our own strength; we must constantly call on God to place within us strength to resist and to remove the desire for sin. As we continue this battle the new man grows ever stronger until he becomes the dominant one of the two. This is not to say that we stop living in the old man; it’s just that our desire to live in the new man is so strong that this is our foremost longing. Also, those occurrences wherein we succumb to the old man become increasingly distressing to us. We grow to hate those things we once enjoyed.
At last we reach a point where we cannot bear to have a duality of personalities within ourselves. This then is the time when we must work with conscious and determined effort to switch our identity and our awareness into the new man.
Prior to receiving the new man we are enslaved to sin. We cannot free ourselves no matter how hard we try; we’re helplessly entrapped. Once we receive the HS our bondage is broken. However, most people find themselves continuing to sin, and they wonder why. It is because we are in the habit of sinning. Habits are very hard to overcome; especially ones that have been cultivated for many years. So even though our slavery to sin has been broken, our habits to sin have not. The distinction is that we cannot overcome the former, but we can overcome the latter. So God breaks the chains of slavery, then asks us to make the effort to break our habits.
Habits are not easy to break. So even with this task we should ask for divine help. God then gives us as much help as we ask for. But He leaves it up to us to decide how quickly we want to change and how much effort we’re willing to make. Once we have broken our old habits and formed new ones, whereby we can keep our mind connected to God for long periods, we’re then ready to complete the transference of our identity into the new man.
This new self-awareness involves changing the way we think of ourselves and who is doing the sinning on those occasions that we stumble and fall temporarily. Initially we say, “I sure wish I could stop sinning …” Our identity is still in the old, sinful man. When we see him sin we think of it as “me” who is failing. We must get to the point where we can say, “It wasn’t me that sinned, but the old man in me that did it.” Ro 7:19-20, “The good I want to do, I don’t do; and the evil I don’t want to do, that I do. Now if I do that which I don’t want to do, it is no longer me that does it, but sin living in me.” Identifying with the “old man” within us is yet another habit to be broken. Break it the same as other bad habits; by asking God for help.
We must cultivate the thought that all the good desires and good thoughts of the new man are now the “new me”; and stop thinking of the actions of the old man as belonging to “me”. Remember what we learned in Romans 6:2-7 (see above). We must disassociate from the old man and create a mental separation between the old and new. This takes time; and we often fall back into our old way of thinking during the process. It is hard to change thought patterns that have been with us our entire lives so far. But it can be done. We must pray daily, asking God to help us with this process. With His help in this, as with everything we do, we can succeed.
When babies are newborn they have no self-awareness. They spend their first three years of life just taking in sights, sounds, tastes and other stimuli. Their new minds put all these pieces together bit by bit until one day they become self-aware and at last have an identity. It is the same with our spiritual growth. We must take in spiritual information bit by bit until one day we become aware that we have a new identity. Just as forming our physical awareness took approximately three years, you may find it is the same with your new, spiritual awareness. But keep at it; it will come.
Completing the transfer of our self-identity from the old man to the new man is an important preparation for receiving the Pentecost experience in full measure.
PENTECOST: WHAT TO EXPECT
The full Pentecost experience is when the power of the Holy Spirit comes over you with power in a manner such that you can do the things done by the early Disciples and the major prophets of the Bible. Jesus said just before returning to Heaven, Jn 14:12, “The works I’ve done you will do too, and greater works than these.” This promise was not for them only, but for us as well. For all who have devoted themselves to Him to receive the BHS, and who are forsaking all to serve Him faithfully, can rightly be called His “disciples”, even in this age.
It is difficult to describe exactly what happens when you receive the Pentecost experience; because, just like with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, everyone experiences it a bit differently than others. Also, unlike the early Disciples who received the full experience all at once, most of us receive it in degrees.
The early Disciples had the advantage of studying with Jesus personally for three and a half years and observing exactly what He did and said. Whereas we, His latter disciples, are having to learn what to do by trial and error. Those who have experienced it in earlier times have not left any “how to” manuals. So we have to learn through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, through careful reading of the Scriptures and other books on the subject, and through extensive experimentation. It’s a long, slow process for those who are the “Trail Blazers” for this age. But hopefully it will be much easier for those who follow since they will then have a guide to lead them.
CYCLES OF STEPPING UP
As has been explained earlier, there is a specific progression in receiving the BHS. There is a similar progression when undergoing the preparation for Pentecost, and again when receiving the Full Pentecost, Jesus’ glory. The progression can be likened to a repeating cycle, wherein each iteration takes us another step higher in our growth. The steps in each stage are as follows:
BHS
1. Removing guilt; past sins and active sins are confessed.
2. Current sins are worked on for removal; begin dying to self.
3. Pray in Faith; Pray in the Spirit (Rhema).
Preparation for Pentecost
1. Remove imprint of sin; habits and nature.
2. Strive to be holy (live without sinful acts); continue dying to self.
3. Walk in Faith; Walk in the Spirit. (Father’s Business Prayer; Dominion).
Full Pentecost -Glory of Jesus
1. Separate from the old man and live in the new man.
2. Strive to be holier still (live without sinful thoughts).
3. Live in the Spirit.
We have learned that we first receive the BHS, next we undergo the Preparation for Pentecost, and then we receive the Full Pentecost, that is the “Glory of Jesus”. Ro 8:30, “Those He predestined He also called; those He called He also justified; those He justified He also glorified.”
The BHS is the acknowledgment of God that we have received Righteousness; that is Justification. The initial stage of the Pentecost experience is God acknowledging that we have received a measure of Holiness; that is we have passed a significant milestone in our Sanctification. Receiving the Full Pentecost experience, what we call “the Glory of Jesus” is God acknowledging that we have successfully transferred our identity from the “old man” to the “new man” and have repressed the old man completely. 1 Cr 15:31, “I die daily.” Ga 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.”
Thus we receive another measure of Holiness and are Glorified by sharing in Christ’s power.
Jn 17:22, “I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one.” Lk 24:49, “I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
TIME OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Early Disciples
Jesus’ Disciples walked with Him for three and a half years. They watched Him, they learned from Him, and they were changed by being in His presence. Throughout this time their spiritual growth went through progressive stages leading up to their full Pentecost experience.
First, they studied and learned for a while. Then He gave them a measure of power and authority as He sent them out to begin practicing what they had observed. (See: Lk 9:1-2, Sending out the 12; and Lk 10:1, Sending out the 70.) This was meant as a learning period for them to see the results of their various acts and words spoken in faith. This power was based on their trust in Jesus’ word. Their experience at this time, although different from ours, was a parallel to what we experience as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Their next stage was after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, when Jesus appeared to them in the Upper Room (see Jn 20:21-22). Jesus “breathed” on them and said, “Receive the Holy Sprit.” This was their Preparation for Pentecost. They received the Holy Spirit internally at this time, but did not yet receive Him in full power.
They did not receive the Holy Spirit before the Crucifixion because Jesus was still with them. Jesus Himself told them that the Holy Spirit couldn’t come until He, Jesus, was leaving. “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him to you.” Jn 16:7. Thus the Early Disciples began receiving the Holy Spirit after their long period of training, and just a short time before their empowerment through the Pentecost.
Finally, 10 days after Jesus’ Ascension, that is 50 days after His Sacrifice, while the Disciples were gathered together in earnest prayer, they received the full Pentecost experience. This was the culmination of three and a half years of spiritual growth.
Paul
Paul received a revelation of Jesus and a call to discipleship while he was on the road to Damascus. (See Acts 9). Three days later a man named Ananias came to lay hands on him and pray for him to receive the Holy Spirit. This then was Paul’s BHS experience. Paul was immediately eager to begin preaching in Jesus’ name; but God wanted him to spend time learning first. Many Biblical scholars believe that after leaving Damascus Paul spent three years in seclusion, studying about Jesus, strengthening his relationship with the Holy Spirit, and receiving visions of Heaven, which gave him his prodigious understanding of spiritual things which he later wrote about in his epistles.
Ac 9:17, “Ananias put his hands on him said, ‘Brother Paul, the Lord Jesus, that appeared to you in the way, has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’” Ga 1:17-18, “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I to Jerusalem to them which were Apostles before me; but I went into Arabia. … After three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter.”
2 Co 12:2-4, “[I] was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
In Paul’s experience we see he spent three years in training and spiritual growth after receiving the BHS. Since he didn’t have the opportunity to walk with Jesus in person to learn from Him, Paul spent time walking with Jesus through the Holy Spirit and being taught all he needed to know. It is believed that sometime near the end of this three years of spiritual growth in seclusion Paul received his own Pentecost experience. He then came forth in the full power of the Holy Spirit ready to fulfill his mission to the glory of God.
Us
We, Jesus’ Latter Disciples, follow a pattern similar to Paul’s; because like him we don’t have Jesus here for us to learn from in person. So we receive the BHS then spend time in a period of spiritual growth in order to be made ready to receive our full Pentecost experience.
When we read about the Early Disciples’ experience we typically focus only on what happened that one day; so we’ve come to the erroneous conclusion that Pentecost is an instantaneous event.
But a more careful reading of their total experience, and of Paul’s, shows that the spiritual growth needed to receive Pentecost comes in stages over a period of years.
Our growth finally culminates, if we’re faithful, in the long-sought blessing — the full Pentecost experience, which signifies our complete sonship in God’s house with full rights to all He has!
THE GLORY OF JESUS : THE FULL PENTECOST
Receiving the BHS is hard. Receiving the initial stage of Pentecost is harder. Receiving the Glory of Jesus is the hardest of all. Ro 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (NIV) As you strive to reproduce the character of Jesus you find how difficult it is to reach perfection; you see how desperately your old nature fights to stay alive.
In the midst of this struggle the Holy Spirit seems to withdraw, leaving you to walk by faith. Your strength of desire to complete the process is severely tested. You truly go through a trial similar to Jacob’s Peniel experience. It seems as if Jesus is trying to get away. You must hold on with tenacity and declare, “I will not let you go until you bless me!”
Despite the seeming weakness of His presence, and despite the seeming might of your sinfulness, don’t give up. This is just making you acutely aware of your true state without Him, and your complete need of His guidance and strength. You must learn to totally depend on Him. Short of that, how can you be trusted to use the power of God? Keep at it; once you’ve learned what you need, it will come.
The Preparation for Pentecost is experienced progressively. Some time after receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, again it varies by individual, the Holy Spirit will let you know that you are becoming eligible for the Pentecost experience. He tells you this ahead of time so that you can begin preparing yourself mentally.
As you consider as a real possibility that you can actually receive the gifts mentioned in the Bible, the excitement that has been motivating you up until now changes into a sense of awe and trepidation at the thought of the great responsibility that also comes with such a gift. A shift begins occurring in your outlook and understanding so that you think of God and yourself, and the relationship between you, in a new way. Similar to when you claimed by faith the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in order to receive it, you now begin claiming by faith the beginning of the Pentecost experience. Accept the assurances which the Holy Spirit is giving you and begin thanking Him for this promise and praising Him in advance of actually receiving it. This is helpful for your mental adjustment.
Once you receive the initial measure of Pentecost you will notice that your prayers begin changing. For one thing, they are more effective than before. That is, there are more affirmative answers and more rapid results. For another thing, your prayers become more attuned to conform to your increasing understanding of God’s will. That is, you are more careful to pray only according to what you know He is willing to grant. People occasionally ask you to pray for them to receive something you feel God wouldn’t want to give; so you have to change the request. Further, your prayers become less begging of God to do something and more declaring what you now intuitively know that God will do. That is, your improved understanding of your Father’s will allows you to boldly declare that will.
The initial stage of Pentecost is to help you continue the adjustment of your life and outlook, to deepen your consecration to live completely for Jesus, and to reveal to you the remaining pieces of information needed to gain the full Pentecost experience.
Once you do receive the Full Pentecost you are glorified as a full son or daughter of Heaven with all the rights. And Jesus is glorified in that His mission and sacrifice are bearing fruit; for this was His purpose — to reconcile men to God and restore them to Heaven. Our receiving of Pentecost is the Glory of Jesus!
= = = = =
(Note: There is much more to understand about the Pentecost level, but that is beyond the scope of this discussion. This book is focused on the BHS experience. A more in depth examination of the Pentecost experience will be the focus of a subsequent book.)
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED
