The Necessity of Spirit Baptism in Witnessing
The necessity of the baptism of the Holy Spirit for witnessing is clearly revealed in the New Testament. We see it in the experience of Jesus. Luke says that from that time forward Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and ministered in the power of the Spirit. God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Jesus knew the importance and necessity of a Spirit-filled ministry. This in why He told them to wait for the promise of the
baptism of the Holy Spirit before they went out proclaiming the gospel (Acts 1:4, 5). They waited and united in prayer for the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled to them (verse 14)
What happens next reveals one main purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. God used these Spirit-filled Christians to spread His message to the world (verses 7 – 11). Three thousand responded to Peter’s Spirit-empowered sermon (verse 41) and the early church continued to grow (verse 47).
As a result of the Spirit’s infilling, “Saul increased all the more in Strength” (Acts 9:22). The word Strength is not simply referring to physical strength. The context indicates that Saul increased in spiritual strength and power for witnessing resulted from the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Supporting Scripture; (Luke 4:18, 19), (Acts 10:38), (Acts 2:1-4), (Acts 8:12-17), (Acts 9:3-7)
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- What did Jesus tell the disciples to do before they began ministering?
- What happened to the early church after the infilling of the Holy Spirit?
- When is the first time you can remember receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Contact the people on your prayer list and let them know you are still praying for them.
- Pray with then and ask for the following;
- For God to continue to convict you with the Holy Spirit.
- For God to witness through you by the Holy Spirit, as He did through Noah.
- For God to give you the strength to carry His message to all nations.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- That we continue to seek the Holy Spirit
- For today use the following Bible Verse in your prayer (Ps. 119:25)
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They say the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We really need the power of the Holy Spirit to do His work. I thinking laying of the hands is the direct work of the faithfilled, whether it’s through the literal laying of their hands or as we also talked once maybe even the direct influnence of a spirit filled person in our lives. It’s easier at this point to shout from a roof top how much I love God, than go knock on someones door and share with them God’s love.
That leads us back home. How many of us hold Bible study with our family at night? We need to take the lead from the disciple Andrew; we read in (John 1:35-40)” Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi”, “where are You staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour). One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
If we cannot proclaim to our families how can we go out in to the world