(Acts 1:8 MKJV) But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Jesus gave his disciples a gift and like all of God’s gifts meant for us we can either receive it or deny it. Accepting the gift of the Holy Spirit is not a requirement for salvation but what I can’t understand why a person who receives, by faith, their salvation from God would not accept all God has for them! As you read for yourself in the second chapter of Acts when God’s Holy Spirit came upon them they began to speak in other languages not known by them. This act was the evidence of them receiving this gift God gave them. Yes, there is power in receiving the Holy Spirit and praying in a heavenly language. No matter how practiced we get in praying God’s will there are times we do not know what to ask for or many times our physical wants and needs get in the way of what God is doing but praying in the Holy Spirit is equivalent to pushing our own understanding to the side and allowing God’s divine will to guide us.
This sounds spooky and weird I know but think about it do you really think we can comprehend at all times what God wants to do in our lives? Is that the definition of faith? If we limit God to our own understanding then we limit what He is allowed to do through us. I believe control over one’s self is good and needed. God does not want us to be controlled by anger, obesity, jealousy, hatred… (Galations 5:22-26). However, too much control also keeps us from God. Have you ever witnessed to someone about God’s love for them as they go through a really tough time who know of their need for God but fear letting God have control (Luke 18:18-24)? All who believe and follow Christ Jesus must walk through this doorway. It is the same for accepting the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. It is an additional layer of giving control to God – some can see this and accept it by faith others fear it and deny it. Paul makes it very clear that those who have accepted it are not to use it in such a way that it makes others stumble (1 Corinthians 14) but he also makes it clear that “speaking in tongues” is a gift from God meant for the good of God’s people.
(Matthew 7:7-11 MKJV) “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For each one who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, if his son asks a loaf, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a snake? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?”
