Baptisms, Fillings, & Awakenings

June 1, 2023
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In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. 

Ephesians 1:13-14 

I am in multiple conversations with people about the Holy Spirit. I love the interest and enthusiasm! I offer the following as ground level Holy Spirit clarity. (I am super, super happy to answer questions you have about the Holy Spirit that I do not cover here. Email me or leave a comment at the bottom of the blog.) Hopefully this will give you clarity in such a way that you can enjoy your relationship with the Spirit and confidently share about Him with others.  

The Holy Spirit is a Person with whom we can have a relationship. The Spirit has personality, will, presence, and everything else that contributes to Personhood. In the same way Father and Son are Persons, so too is the Holy Spirit. Jesus commands His disciples in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 to baptize new converts in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a sign of a new relationship with each person of the Trinity.  

To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to receive the Spirit at conversion. Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3:1-21 that one must be born again by the Holy Spirit to be saved. In Acts 2:38 Peter preaches, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Writing about salvation the Apostle Paul says in Titus 3:5 that at one’s conversion the Holy Spirit is poured out on that person through Jesus Christ for the “washing of regeneration and renewing.”  

At conversion a person’s relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit changes. To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be born again by Him, it is the act of beginning a new, healthy relationship with Him.   

One of the many fruits of being baptized in the Spirit is to be sealed by the Spirit. In the above Ephesians 1:13-14 passage the Apostle Paul says that when we believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are sealed by the Holy Spirit (See also 2 Corinthians 1:21, 5:5 and Ephesians 4:30). When we come to faith we are sealed. Sealing is a work of the Spirit – not the Father or the Son. Similarly, the Apostle John writes the Holy Spirit is the One who assures us of our salvation, “By this we know that we abide in Him (God the Father) and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).  

Hopefully understanding the Holy Spirit as a Person begins to give you increasing clarity in how He works in your life! 

NOW… 

While we are baptized in the Spirit at conversion, we will experience all sorts of Holy Spirit “fillings” and “awakenings” throughout our journeys. Just after Paul writes in Ephesians 1:13-14 that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit at conversion, he prays in Ephesians 1:15-19 that the Ephesian Christians will experience a further Holy Spirit awakening!  

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened (or awakened), so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” 

So, while one is sealed at conversion, one can experience ongoing Holy Spirit “enlightenings” or awakenings. When these happen, they can feel like an internal rush of pure oxygen! These experiences can feel like one is being filled with something one has never had before. But biblically that is not true. What can be happening is that one is awakening to some new aspect of one’s relationship with the Holy Spirit – that awakening just feels so new and so powerful!  

These “enlightenings” will happen throughout your journey as a son/daughter of our Father; as one under the authority of King Jesus; and as one who is being changed by the Holy Spirit.  

  • When the Holy Spirit brings something inside of you from the darkness to the light, when he breaks something in you that you have held for years, that movement is POWERFUL.  
  • When He manifests the presence of Jesus or our Father, that manifestation is POWERFUL.  
  • When He heals a wound in you, that healing is POWERFUL.  
  • When He liberates you from demon spirits, that liberation is POWERFUL.  
  • When you flex a gift He has given you, that flexing is POWERFUL. 

But these experiences do not mean you just got baptized in the Spirit. You were baptized at conversion. These experiences continue to mean you are awakening to more of your new life as a son or daughter of your Father and a brother or sister of Jesus.  

Baptism. Filling. Awakening.  

This is a relationship with the PERSON of the Holy Spirit. 

Now, one last thing for this blog – and there is so much more that can be said. Read what Paul writes in Ephesians 4:30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Notice he says the one who is already sealed by the Spirit can grieve the Spirit. This is a relationship. The Holy Spirit in the Christian wants to work in and through the Christian. The Christian grieves the Spirit when he/she denies or limits what the Spirit wants to do. When the one grieving the Spirit relents and let’s the Spirit move…it is POWERFUL! 

So, how is your relationship with the Holy Spirit? If you have grieved Him, if your intimacy with Him has been non-existent or limited, repent! Ask for forgiveness, receive forgiveness, and begin learning how to live in the Spirit! If your relationship is healthy but you feel like you are stuck in an area of your life, as Paul prayed for a Holy Spirit awakening, pray for an awakening! The Holy Spirit’s presence and work in us is supposed to be so robust that Paul can write in Galatians 5:25, 

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” 

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