The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit
n addition to the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Bible also tells us that there are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
For the record, we feel that the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit are much more important than the 9 gifts are, as the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit have to do with God imparting part of His divine nature into the core of our personalities to help make us into a much better and holy people.
God’s ultimate aim for all of us is our sanctification in Him and part of that sanctification process has to do with the Holy Spirit Himself transmitting 9 specific divine qualities and attributes into our personalities.
But if the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit are the cake, then the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit are the icing on the cake. Put these two together and allow God to work with a believer with both sets of these 9 fruits and 9 gifts, and you will have one mighty, sanctified soldier of Jesus Christ, as the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit will give you some serious and heavy ammunition to have at your disposal as you walk with God’s anointing in your daily life.
I call the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit torpedo gifts, as the Holy Spirit can manifest any one of these 9 gifts through any believer anytime that He will want to do so. Each one of these gifts are major power gifts, and they are all direct, supernatural, miraculous manifestations direct from the Holy Spirit Himself – and any Christian can get themselves in place to receive these 9 gifts, as the apostle Paul himself tells us not to be afraid to try and stir up these 9 specific gifts with the Lord.
Here is the direct verse from our Bible on the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit:
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)
Now I will bold and bullet point each one of these 9 gifts so you can have them right at the top of this article at a very quick glance:
The Word of Knowledge
The Word of Wisdom
The Gift of Prophecy
The Gift of Faith
The Gifts of Healings
The Working of Miracles
The Discerning of Spirits
Different Kinds of Tongues
The Interpretation of Tongues
Not only does the Bible tell us that these 9 gifts are available to all believers, but then it takes it one step further and tells us that we can actually try and stir up these 9 gifts with the Lord. Here are 5 very good verses telling us to not only desire spiritual gifts, but to also not be afraid to try and stir these gifts up with the Lord:
1. “Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:39)
2. “… and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1)
3. “Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecies.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
4. “Do not neglect the gift that is in you … Meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.” (1 Timothy 4:14)
5. “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:6)
As such, every believer should go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to release these 9 gifts through them anytime that He will want to do so. Let God know that you will be a willing vessel for the manifestations of these gifts, and that you will give Him a full and solid green light to manifest these gifts though you at anytime that He will want to do so.
These 9 gifts are a tremendous aid and help to not only you in your own personal walk with the Lord, but many of them can be also used to help other people out as special needs and circumstances arise in their lives. Notice the very first line in this verse says that these 9 gifts are given to each one for the “profit of all.”
I will go ahead and break down each one of these 9 gifts under the captions below so you can see exactly what each one of these 9 gifts are all about and how important and powerful they can become in your life if you will only allow the Holy Spirit to manifest them through you at anytime that He will want to do so.
1. The Word of Knowledge

This first gift I will talk about is the one I believe will manifest the most in your daily life with the Lord. With God having absolute perfect knowledge on all things and with us having knowledge levels that are completely imperfect and limited, this means that we all need to receive words of knowledge from the Lord on a very regular and frequent basis in order to be able to safely journey through this life. As such, I believe the Holy Spirit will manifest this specific gift with a lot of frequency in your daily life if you can learn how to pick it up from Him when it does come in.
I believe that the Holy Spirit actually manifests this gift a lot more than people realize, but they fail to realize it or pick it up when it does come their way because they have never been taught that the Holy Spirit can do this for them in the first place.
The Word of Knowledge is simply the Holy Spirit transmitting His specific knowledge to you on something that you would have no ability or means to be able to know about with your own limited intelligence and knowledge levels. It is supernatural knowledge and insight being given directly to you by the Holy Spirit, not by your own mind or your own intelligence levels.
These words of knowledge that you can receive direct from the Holy Spirit can literally cover an infinite number of things in your daily life. They can cover anything from something very trivial such as where you may have misplaced your car keys at, to giving you life-saving knowledge on how to solve an impending crisis or emergency.
Here are some specific examples of where you can receive a direct word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit covering anything and everything in your daily life:
How to solve a math problem at school if you are a student.
How to solve a specific problem at your place of employment.
Where you may have misplaced your car keys at.
Knowledge on what a certain Scripture verse may mean and how it can apply to your own personal life.
How to properly witness to an unsaved family member.
How to solve a marital dispute.
How to start up a new business.
Where to look for that next new job if you have just been laid off.
Who God wants you to marry in this life.
How to counsel someone who has just had an impending tragedy hit them full force.
What your specific calling in the Lord is going to be in this life.
Word of knowledge that God wants to heal someone of a specific illness.
As you can see from these kinds of examples, there is literally nothing that the Holy Spirit cannot get into in your own personal life where He can then give you a word of knowledge on how to properly handle something that you are currently dealing with, or give you a word of knowledge to help someone else out with what they may be dealing with on their end.
With our own knowledge levels being so limited, so imperfect and so incomplete, we all need words of knowledge from the Lord on some kind of regular basis in this life so that we can make it through this life in one piece and get to where we need to go in our divine destinies with Him.
How exactly does the Holy Spirit transmit an actual Word of Knowledge to us? I believe the number one way that He will communicate a Word of Knowledge to us is through the inner knowing.
The Bible say that the Holy Spirit will bear “witness” with our human spirits. This inner witness is what I call the inner knowing. All of a sudden, you will receive a without-a-doubt type knowing on the knowledge that He is trying to transmit to you. It can come in the form of a thought or an impression on your mind, or possibly come in the form of a vision or a picture in your mind’s eye.
I have found from personal experience that the Holy Spirit loves to communicate knowledge through these pictures, which are really visions in your mind’s eye. These pictures can be used to give you quite a bit of information and knowledge on what He is trying to give you knowledge on. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes much more information and knowledge can be conveyed to you by way of a simple picture rather than Him trying to give you all words or sentences, depending on exactly what you are dealing with.
The only problem with these pictures in your mind’s eye is that you have to learn how to discern the difference between when a vision is coming in from the Holy Spirit and when a vision is coming in from your own natural imagination, as your own natural imagination has the power and the ability to conjure up their own mental pictures in your mind’s eyes.
Over time, the Holy Spirit can teach you how to do discern the difference between the two if you would really like for Him to do this for you. This is something that you can learn how to do with Him through a process of trial and error.
Think of the ramifications and the possibilities with just this one special gift alone – that the Holy Spirit Himself can transmit His own divine knowledge to you on something that you cannot solve or figure out on your own.
This is why this particular gift is so important and so needed in this day and age, as most of us are always facing some kind of roadblocks or obstacles on a regular basis in our daily lives. As such, we all need the knowledge of God flowing through us so we can make it through all of these obstacles, so we can then get to where we need to go with the Lord and fully accomplish everything that He will want us to do for Him in this life.
That is why the Bible tells us that “without knowledge” we can perish and go into captivity in this life. And sometimes only the supernatural knowledge of God can help keep us out of harm’s way in this life, since our own knowledge and intelligence levels are so imperfect and so limited.
2. The Word of Wisdom

This next gift at times will work in conjunction with the word of knowledge. Sometimes all you need is a direct word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit and it will completely solve the problem or dilemma you are dealing with. However, there will be other times that a word of knowledge will not be quite enough to solve the problem. This is where you will need a word of wisdom. A word of wisdom will give you the ability to be able to properly apply the knowledge that you may already have on a particular situation.
In our article, “Seeking After the Knowledge of God,” we explain to you the difference between knowledge, understanding and wisdom. For instance, if someone gives you a car manual that will show you how to rebuild a car engine, that manual will give you all of the actual knowledge you will need to learn how to do it. But all of that knowledge will not do you any good unless you first understand what you are reading.
If you can understand what you are reading, then the next and final step will be to have the actual wisdom to be able to actually rebuild a car engine out in your garage once you try and do it. All of that knowledge from the car manual, and all of that understanding of that knowledge will do you no good in real life if you do not have the wisdom to be able to apply that knowledge to a real life working situation.
This is why we all need words of wisdom from the Holy Spirit in our daily life, so we will know how to handle more complex types of problems or issues that can occur at a moment’s notice in our daily lives.
Here are some specific examples where we could receive words of wisdom direct from the Holy Spirit:
You have just found out that your spouse has been cheating on you. You will now need God’s wisdom on exactly how to handle this crisis.

Your boss has just given you a new tough assignment and you are not sure on how to get the job properly done. You will now need God’s knowledge and wisdom on how to get this new assignment successfully completed.

Your finances have spiraled out of control and you will now need God’s guidance and wisdom on how to keep yourself out of bankruptcy.

You have just been named in an unjust lawsuit and you will now need God’s wisdom on how to properly handle it.
As you can see, there are literally an infinite number of possibilities where you will need God’s wisdom to get you safely though the problem or dilemma you are now having to face. Again, since our own human intelligence is so imperfect and so limited in its ability to apply real wisdom to handle and solve some of life’s real tough problems, we all need the wisdom of God flowing through our lives on a regular basis so we can handle and overcome many of life’s adversities that can get thrown our way at any time.
3. The Gift of Prophecy

This next gift may just be the greatest of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. The reason I say this is because the apostle Paul, in the second verse above, purposely singles out this gift when telling you to seek after the spiritual gifts.
He says in this verse to “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” With him purposely singling out the gift of prophecy in comparison to the rest of the 9 gifts in this verse, I believe that this may be a tell to us that the gift of prophecy may be the greatest of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. And when you think about exactly what this gift is all about, I believe that he may be right on the money.
The gift of prophecy is when you get a direct Word from the Lord to usually give to someone else. And when I say a direct word, I mean the message from the Lord that will be given to you will literally be word for word. When you get one of these, you need to try and either write or type all of it out if you are in a place to be able to do so.
I do not believe there is anything greater than to be able to receive a direct, clear, prophetic Word from the Lord to be able to give to someone else in order to help edify and build them up, or help them out with something specific they may be dealing with, with you being the actual messenger of that prophetic word to that someone. As such, they all need to be recorded and written down if at all possible.
However, there will be times that you will not be able to record it. All of a sudden the Holy Spirit will give you a direct, clear, prophetic word to give to someone else. You speak out the word to this person and then you will be done with it. It might be a very short word and it really doesn’t need to be recorded or written down. But there will be other times that you will be in a place to properly record it. And depending on what the Lord is giving you a direct message on and how long it is, you should make every attempt to get it down on paper, as they are real trophies and treasures when they do come in.
The Bible tells us that God uses the gift of prophecy to speak edification, exhortation and comfort to other people. Here is the specific verse giving us this direct revelation on what the main use of prophecy is all about:
“But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.” (1 Corinthians 14:4)
Many times prophecy is also used to help confirm what has already been given to the person earlier on by the Lord. Sometimes God will confirm for you what He has already told you earlier so you will know that it really was Him all along giving you that specific message. And one of the ways that He can confirm a previous message that He has already given you is by giving you a direct prophecy through another believer.
Prophecies from the Lord can cover an extremely wide range of situations and issues, covering everything from predicting future events like they use to do in the OT, to giving someone counsel, encouragement, confirmation, instruction, and possible correction when it may be needed.
Also, all prophecy needs to be properly tested, as the Bible tells us that there will always be false prophets walking among us, along with the possibility of well-meaning believers prophesying out of their imaginations. Here is the verse giving us this direct warning:
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)
All prophecy always needs to line up with Scripture. If it does not, it should be immediately rejected. God will never go against His own Word when delivering a prophetic word to someone.
Again, any believer can have the Lord manifest this gift through them at anytime that He will want to do so. You do not have to hold the actual office of a prophet in order for God to manifest this gift through you from time to time. The Bible tells us that in the latter days God will be pouring out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh and when He does, it says our sons and daughters will be prophesying. This means that there are going to be many believers who are going to be getting this gift manifesting through them with a lot of frequency in the coming years.
When Paul says in the above two verses to “desire earnestly to prophesy” and to “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy,” you know that this is something that the Lord would really like to do more of with His children.
Again, if you would like the Lord to manifest this gift through you from time to time so you can be a direct messenger for Him to someone else, just go to Him in prayer and tell Him that you would be more than happy to be a willing and yielded vessel for Him to manifest this particular gift through if He would like to do so. And then keep your radars up, always being open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit if He will want to start manifesting this gift through you at any time so He can use it to help build others up and bring some comfort, joy, peace or direction into their lives.
4. The Gift of Faith

This next gift, the gift of faith, is something that comes directly from the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that we all have a certain measure of faith that has already been given to us by the Lord. God has to give each person a certain measure of faith or we would not be able to get saved, as the Bible tells us that we are saved by “faith” through grace. And then over the course of our walks with the Lord, our faith will continue to grow to higher levels as we continue to draw closer to the Lord in our own personal relationship with Him and increase our knowledge levels about Him through the study of Scripture.
However, there will be times that our own levels of faith in the Lord will not be enough to get the job done with what He may be asking us to do for Him. Here is an example: Say God has been manifesting the gift of healing through you from time to time to heal a few minor ailments or illnesses on a few people. Your confidence and faith levels are then starting to build up because God is now starting to use you in this manner and you now have had a few good successes on these smaller illnesses. But then all of a sudden God tells you to walk up to a paraplegic, lay hands on him, and then command him to get out of his wheelchair and start walking.
All of a sudden you can immediately sense in your mind and in your spirit that your own levels of faith are not going to be good enough or high enough to try and do this, as you have never tried to heal someone of something this heavy before. And this is where the Holy Spirit will now be moving in big time so this miracle can be fully accomplished for the Lord. The Holy Spirit will then manifest His own divine faith right up into you so you can now believe and operate on that faith, so you will now have the actual courage to walk up to this person, lay hands on him, and then tell him to get out of that wheelchair and start walking.
Sometimes it will take higher levels of faith to pull down a major miracle from the Lord, and where our faith levels will not be high enough or good enough to be able to do this, this is where the direct faith of the Holy Spirit Himself will then move up in us and pick up the slack with our own imperfect faith levels so God can then manifest the miracle that He will be looking to do through us.
Sometimes God may ask you to do something that will be out of your comfort zone. Fear and panic will immediately set in because you have never done what He is now asking you to do. If and when this should ever happen to you, just ask the Holy Spirit to manifest His faith, courage and boldness up in you so you will have His faith, strength and courage to do what God is asking you to do for Him.
This particular gift could be a lifesaver, depending on what God may ask you to do for Him. If God is asking you to go into a burning building to rescue a child, there will be a very good chance that the Holy Spirit will immediately manifest His faith and courage right up in you so you can take on this dangerous assignment. Firemen, policemen and our military especially need this particular gift to help them do heroic acts, as many of them could easily let fear and panic set in on them, which would then keep them from being able to perform a major rescue operation.
Again, there are just a wide variety of situations and circumstances where you will need this gift to be manifested up in you by the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit is called the Helper in the Bible, so He can help you with a lot of different areas in your daily life where you will have trouble in dealing with.
5. The Gifts of Healings

Per the article we just did titled, “The Great Commission – Save, Heal, Deliver and Disciple,” one of the things that Jesus is wanting all of us to do for Him to is pray for the sick. And if we do, then many of the times they will “recover,” which means that He is going to heal them. So it should come as no surprise that we have the gift of healing as one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What this means is that at anytime the Holy Spirit can manifest this special gift through any believer so He can then heal someone of any kind of disease, illness or sickness. You do not have to have the gift of healing as any kind of a full time ministry to be able to have the Holy Spirit do this through you. Again, it can literally happen to any single believer at anytime with the Lord.
As such, this is another gift that you will definitely want to try and stir up with the Lord because there are just so many people who need some kind of healing due to the fact that we still have to deal with all kinds of diseases, sicknesses and illnesses on a regular basis as a result of the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth.
Not only can the Holy Spirit directly heal you with your own personal prayers to the Lord, but He can also use you as an anointed vessel to manifest His healing power through to help heal someone else – if you will only have the courage to speak out what He wants you to say to that person, and then lay hands on that person for the healing power to be transmitted into their body to the affected body part that will need the healing.
Also notice that the wording being used in this verse is that this is the “gifts” of healing. The word “gifts” is plural, which means there are different kinds of healings the Lord will want to do. What people who walk with this kind of anointing on a regular basis have found out is that some people will be more gifted and anointed in some areas than they will be in other areas.
For instance, some people may have more success with healing bad back cases, where another may have a stronger anointing to heal cancer cases. In other words, the Lord will sometimes specialize on the kinds of healings He will want to do through an individual believer. Your part is to just tell the Lord that you would like to have a big part in this special gift and then let Him decide as to how He will want to use you in this area and what areas you will be stronger in than other areas.
In the Spiritual Warfare section of our site, we have an article titled “Healing Verses of the Bible.” In this article are 93 of the best healing verses in all of the Bible. If you would like the Lord to use you in this specific area, it would be our recommendation that you study and meditate on the verses that are in this article, as it will show you that both God the Father in the OT and Jesus Christ in the NT were constantly healing people on a regular basis.
And if God does not change, and He is the same today as He was yesterday, then that means He will still want to continue His healing ministry in this day and age, and thus will anoint His believers with His healing power through the Holy Spirit from time to time when they will either need it for themselves or someone else they may be praying for.
6. The Working of Miracles

This next gift from the Holy Spirit is where you can get into some real heavy, jaw-dropping, knock-your-socks off type of supernatural activity from Him.
Some of the different Bible Dictionaries describe the word miracle as the following:
An intervention in the natural universe by God
A phenomena that transcends natural laws
A divine act by which God reveals Himself to people
Good examples of actual miracles from the Bible are the following:
Jesus and the apostles healing and casting demons out of people.
Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana.
Jesus feeding 5000 people by multiplying 5 loaves of bread and two fish.
God parting the Red Sea for Moses and the children of Israel.
Daniel not being eaten by the lions in the lion’s den.
Peter walking on water.
If you study the Bible very carefully from start to finish, it is literally one miracle after another with both God the Father and Jesus Christ. Our God is a miracle-working God and He still loves to do them for His people.
The Bible says that God does not change, and if both Him and Jesus were constantly doing miracles in both the OT and NT, then God will also be wanting to do miracles in our day and age. And with this specific gift being listed as one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit, then you know that God is trying to tell all of us that He still wants to do them, even in the jaded and skeptical times that we are now currently living in.
Again, do not be afraid of this heavy gift from the Lord, and do not quench the Holy Spirit with any lack of faith or belief if He ever wants to try and do one for either you or any other people you may be working with. Remember, the Bible tells us that absolutely nothing is impossible with God, which will include any divine miracle that He will want to perform.
7. The Discerning of Spirits

This next gift is one that is really needed in the dangerous and perilous times that we are now living in.
The first thing to notice about this gift is that the “s” in the word “spirits” is with a small “s.” This means that it is not referring to the Holy Spirit. The only other spirits that are out there that this gift is referring to are the following three kinds of spirits:
Demonic spirits
God’s angels
Human spirits
What happens in this gift is that the Holy Spirit will give you supernatural discernment, insight and knowledge involving these three kinds of spirits. Many of the times, this gift will be be used to expose what is really going on and operating behind the scenes with someone.
Here is how this gift will come into play with each one of these kinds of spirits.
A) Demonic Spirits – with demonic spirits still being allowed to roam in the air and interact with us to some degree in this life, we really need this gift in full operation today just to handle this one type of bad, evil spirit.
As you know, many times demons can literally enter into a person’s body if they have the appropriate legal rights to be able to do so. But once they are in someone’s body, they will then try and hide and not show themselves. They know if they get caught and exposed on the inside of that person’s’ body, they risk that person either finding Jesus if they are not saved yet, or if it is a Christian, that this person will then seek out a deliverance from another believer.
Since some demons are very good at hiding on the inside of someone once they enter in, God needs to activate this gift through some of His own so they can detect when a demon is on the inside of someone and expose its presence. Once the demon has been exposed, then you can set the person up for a deliverance. But the first thing to be able to do is to discern and detect that the demons are already on the inside of that person in the first place.
There are several ways that this type of discernment can work in this realm. First, the people who have this gift in operation from the Holy Spirit will sometimes be able to “see” the demons manifest through a person’s eyes.
Sometimes the demons just can’t help themselves and they sometimes will rise up and show themselves through a person’s eyes. They will literally be looking directly at you through this person’s eyes. When you see this kind of a manifestation happen, what you will see is pure hate and pure evil looking at you. You will be able to tell that this is not the person they are residing in. This kind of a look can also be caught on camera quite a bit, as demons sometimes like to show themselves when that person is getting their picture taken.
Again, you do need this gift of discerning of spirits from the Holy Spirit to be able to see this when it happens, but it is very easily seen by the people who do have this gift in full operation from the Holy Spirit.
Another way that the Holy Spirit will help you discern and sense demons in someone is through either a sense of smell or a sense of feeling. Some people will get a real sick feeling in their stomach, like they want to vomit when they either see or get around someone who has a demon on the inside of them. I have a friend who has this special gifting on the inside of her from the Holy Spirit and that is always one of her tells when she knows that she is sensing a demon on the inside of someone.
Other people will be able to literally smell their presence, and their smell is extremely noxious and toxic. The people who have this kind of gifting say it is the worse smell they have ever smelled.
What the Holy Spirit is doing with this kind of gift is pulling back the curtains in the spiritual realm and allowing you to either see, feel or smell the demons in the person they are residing in. Then once the demons have been exposed as being on the inside of that person, then you can move in to set that person up for a deliverance if they will be open to it.
Another way you can pick up a demon being on the inside of someone is just through a strong inner knowing or a strong sensing from the Holy Spirit. You may not be able to see them in the person’s eyes when they do come up and manifest, or feel them or smell them, but you can get a strong inner knowing or a strong sensing from the Holy Spirit that this person does have demons on the inside of them.
B) God’s Angels – The Bible tells us that God’s angels are also spirit beings. They are ministering spirits. Throughout history God’s angels have appeared to people many times. The Bible is full of these kinds of stories from the Virgin Mary, to Daniel, to the apostle John in the Book of Revelation.
However, the Bible warns us that Satan and his demons can also appear to us as angels of light. As a result, you will need proper discernment from the Holy Spirit if an angel were to ever appear to you.
The false religions of Islam and Mormonism are two perfect examples of demons appearing as angels of light to the two people who started these two false religions. If those two people would have known how to properly test a spirit appearing to them, those two demon angels could have easily been stopped dead in their tracks and those two false religions could have easily been prevented from ever having started up.
If an angel were all of a sudden to ever appear to you, the first thing you will need to do is properly test it out. 1 John tells us exactly how to do this. Here is the verse:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, BUT TEST THE SPIRITS, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-4)
What this means is that you directly ask the angel to identify who his Lord and Master is. He better say that it is Jesus Christ. Then you ask him to confess to you that Jesus Christ has come to our earth in the flesh. If the angel cannot make this direct confession to you that Jesus Christ has already come to our earth in the flesh, then you are dealing with a real, live demonic spirit masquerading as an angel of light. At this point, you should command the demon to now leave you in the name of Jesus Christ.
In addition to the above test, you could also receive a strong discerning of spirits direct from the Holy Spirit. You will immediately sense that something is not right with this angel and you will then pick up with a strong inner knowing that this is not an angel from God. If it is an angel from God, you should feel a sense of peace and comfort coming in from the Holy Spirit, as He should be bearing witness that this is one of God’s angels.
C) Human Spirits – in addition to angels and demonic spirits, the third kind of spirit this gift is referring to is just our own human, natural spirits. For instance, someone could have a bad spirit of pride on them. It will not be a demonic spirit giving this person this kind of bad pride, it will just be his own natural spirit, as we are all totally capable of having bad kinds of spirits build up in our systems without the help of any kind of demonic spirits, since we have already been born into this world as corrupt sinners.
Where this gift will really come into play is on discerning some of the real bad apples that are out there, especially those of the criminal type such as rapists, money scammers and swindlers, and pedophiles. Pedophiles are especially good at seducing some of the family members so they can then work themselves into getting closer to some of their younger children. That is why parents especially have to keep a sharp eye on any new people who come into their immediate circle of influence.
Just realize that this is a gift that the Holy Spirit can manifest for you and to always keep yourself open and sensitive to anything that the Holy Spirit may want to transmit your way if you ever do come across a few bad apples such as these types.
God the Father is very protective over His own and He will not hesitate to have His Holy Spirit give you major warning signals if you are ever starting to cross paths with a bad and evil apple who is either targeting you or one of your close friends or family members for some kind of an evil act.
8. Different Kinds of Tongues

The gift of tongues is simply the Holy Spirit giving you the supernatural ability to speak in a foreign tongue that you have no knowledge or ability to speak out on your own.
There are two types of tongues He can give you. One is a tongue of this earth. For instance, if your native language is English, then He can give you the ability to speak in Chinese, Japanese or Spanish. The other type of tongue that He can give you is a tongue direct from heaven, a heavenly language that is not of this earth. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that there are “tongues of angels.”
But in either event, it will be a foreign language that you will not be able to speak out on your own, and only the Holy Spirit’s supernatural transmission of this language out of your spirit will give you the ability to be able to speak this language out. And whatever tongue the Holy Spirit will give you, you will be able to use it 24/7, whenever you want. It will be your own personal, private, prayer language between you and the Lord.
The only problem with this gift is that for the most part, you will never know or understand what you are praying about when you go into this gift. The Bible tells us that we will be speaking out “mysteries” and only God the Father and the Holy Spirit will be knowing exactly what the prayer will be about on any given occasion when you are actually doing it.
So if we will not know exactly what we are praying about when using this gift, then why would God even want us to have this kind of a gift in the first place? I believe the reason is in the verse where it says that sometimes we will not know how to pray as we ought to. Sometimes we will not be able to find the right words to use in our own personal prayers to the Lord due to our own natural imperfections in being able to properly communicate with Him.
Here is the verse that will show us that sometimes we will not know how to pray as we ought and that we all need the Holy Spirit to come and help us out in our own personal prayer life with God the Father:
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)
I believe the Holy Spirit is the Master Prayer to God the Father and as such, He is allowing us to have direct access into His personal prayer life with God the Father. In other words, He is asking us to play a part of and to share with Him on His direct, personal prayers to God the Father. Even though you will not know what you are praying about when you go into your gift of tongues, at least you will have the honor and privilege of being able to pray direct to God the Father with the Holy Spirit. And since the Holy Spirit knows how to present a perfect prayer to God the Father, then you can actually play a part in that perfect prayer to God the Father.
Another reason that you will want this gift is for emergency type situations. I cannot tell you how may testimonies I have seen or read where the Holy Spirit will all of a sudden prompt someone to start praying in tongues, and then later on that person finds out that the prayer they were just doing in tongues was just used to save someone else’s life.
Since the Holy Spirit is God and Lord Himself, this means He can perfectly see into the future. And if He sees a fatal accident getting ready to occur, He can prompt you to start praying in tongues to God the Father to stop the impending tragedy from occurring.
You have no idea how many lives you may be instrumental in saving if you will only allow God to give this gift to you and then go into it whenever the Holy Spirit will prompt you to do it. This gift cannot only be used to save your own personal life from impending disaster, but it can also be used to save the lives of people who may be very close to you, such as your immediate family members, close friends or co-workers.
For the most part, the gift of tongues will be used as your own personal, private prayer language between you and the Lord. If it is done in a church setting by someone, then there should be someone who will have the interpretation of that tongue, otherwise no one will know what that person is praying about and it will not be able to edify the flock in the setting that it is occurring.
Now here are some additional verses on the gift of tongues:
“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” (1 Corinthians 14:2)

“I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.” ( 1 Corinthians 14:5)

“Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” (1 Corinthians 14:13-14)

“Though I speak with tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” ( 1 Corinthians 13:1)

“Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers…” (1 Corinthians 14:22)

“Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:39-40)
Notice in the first verse that it is telling you that you are speaking mysteries when you are praying in your tongue. The 4th verse tells you that your tongue will either becoming from men or angels, which means that it will either be a language of this earth or a language direct from heaven.
Notice in the 3rd verse that Paul is telling you that you pray to interpret your own tongue so you can understand what you are praying about, which will lead us right into the next gift, the interpretation of tongues. Also notice that when you are praying in your tongue, that you are praying out of your spirit, not your mind. You are also praying in the Holy Spirit when you are praying in your tongue.
With our inability to be perfect prayer warriors with God the Father, I believe that this is one gift that God would like all of His children to have. When you find yourself wanting to pray to God, but you find yourself falling short in how you want to pray or what you want to pray about, you can just go into your gift of tongues with the Holy Spirit and then end up giving God a perfect prayer, since the prayer will becoming direct from the Holy Spirit.
This a very powerful prayer tool to have in your arsenal since you are opening yourself up direct to the Holy Spirit and His ability to perfectly pray to God the Father. You are joining forces with the third Person of the Trinity who is God and Lord Himself, who is the Master Prayer and Intercessor with God the Father. Just meditate on this mind-blowing reality, and then see if you will not want to go to God the Father and ask Him to release this powerful gift to you through the Holy Spirit.
9. The Interpretation of Tongues

This next gift is where the Holy Spirit will give you the interpretation of the tongues that you have either done for yourself or when they are being done by someone else in a church setting.
Here are the two main verses telling you where the gift of interpretation will come into play with the gift of tongues:
“If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.” (1 Corinthians 14: 27-28)

“Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” (1 Corinthians 14:13-14)
The first verse has to do with others interpreting a tongue when it is done in a church service. The second verse is showing you that the Holy Spirit can give you the interpretation of your own tongue as you are praying in it by yourself.
Again, another powerful gift that you can ask to receive from the Lord if you would like to tread into these kinds of deeper waters with Him.
CONCLUSION

Just stop and think about what all 9 of these gifts from the Holy Spirit are all really about. We are talking about God Almighty Himself coming down and manifesting a part of Himself through these 9 gifts, since God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are perfectly one with one another in the Divine Trinity.
This is what I call push-the-envelope kind of activity with the Lord. With every single one of these 9 gifts being direct, miraculous, manifestations from the Holy Spirit, you are attempting to tread into deeper waters with the Lord. And that is exactly what God is asking all of us to do with these 9 gifts.
When the apostle Paul, who I believe was the greatest of all of the New Testament apostles, tells us to “desire earnestly” these spiritual gifts and not to be afraid to try and stir these gifts up with the Lord, then you know God the Father is giving all us a big, fat, whopper green light to come after these 9 specific gifts.
Just think how many more people you can help and save if you will allow the Holy Spirit to manifest some of these 9 gifts through you from time to time. Each one of these 9 gifts are major power gifts and most of them are allowing the Lord to come in and manifest Himself to help someone else out.
Though Jesus is in heaven right now with His Father, we all still have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. And through the Holy Spirit, both God the Father and Jesus Christ can still manifest Themselves into our lives and any situations that we will need Their help on. God and Jesus are still in the rescue, help and deliverance business, and if you will allow God to manifest these 9 gifts through you from time to time, you yourself can become an actual partaker in some of Their divine deliverance missions. You yourself can help carry on the divine ministry that Jesus left behind when He ascended to His Father.
Per the new article we just put up, “The Great Commission – Save, Heal, Deliver and Disciple,” these 9 special power gifts will really help you in being to able save, heal, deliver and disciple other people in this life. I call these torpedo gifts because they are like bullets loaded in a gun, ready to shoot out of you at anytime under the control and direction of the Holy Spirit. These 9 gifts are the ammunition you will need to go to war for the Lord to help set the captives free, as the Bible is telling all of us to learn how to become good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Combine these 9 gifts with the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit so God can transform and mold you into the kind of person He wants you to become in Him, and then you will become a truly sanctified, fully-loaded God-warrior like King David and Joshua were. Then you will be ready to take on the real Goliaths of this world with absolutely no fear, since you know now that you have the power of the Holy Spirit Himself on the inside of you, along with these 9 powerful gifts that can be manifested through you at anytime to help either yourself or any other people as different needs will arise in their lives.

How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
n this article, I will show you exactly what this gift is and how to properly receive it. Many have tried to receive this gift at an altar call at their local churches, but they have failed to receive it. They then walk away thinking that maybe there was something wrong with them or they were not worthy enough to receive this gift from the Lord.
I believe the number one reason why some Christians do not properly receive this gift when they try the above approach is because they have not been properly prepared to receive it.
To really receive this gift the first time you try asking and pressing in for it, you have to know exactly what it is you are receiving, and then you have to properly prepare yourself to receive it. Once those two things have been properly done, then it becomes very easy to receive this gift the first time you ask and press in for it. This is a gift that God wants all of His children to have, just like His gift of eternal salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.
I will first start off by explaining exactly what this gift is, and then I will show you how to properly prepare yourself to receive it. Once those two things have been done, I will then show you exactly how to receive it once you are ready for it.
WHAT IS THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
The first thing that you will need to know is exactly what this gift is. The Bible tells us that we will all receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation with the Lord. The Bible also tells us that we are “sealed” with the Holy Spirit the minute we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
So if we have already received the Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation with the Lord, then what is this “second” baptism of the Holy Spirit that the charismatics are talking about? The Bible tells us that there is only one baptism.
To fully understand what is meant by the baptism of the Holy Spirit – you have to know what the difference is between your body, soul and spirit. The Bible tells us that we have three, distinct parts to our being – body, soul and spirit. Here is the verse specifically telling us this:
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
Your body is your human, physical, flesh body. Your soul is located on the inside of your body. Your soul is who you really are. It is your total personality – it is your mind, will, emotions and intellect. Your soul is spirit in form, which means it cannot be seen by any natural means. It is completely invisible to the naked eye.
On the inside of your soul is your spirit. The Bible refers to our human spirit as being our“innermost being.” I believe another word for our human spirit is “heart.” When people refer to having had a broken heart in a broken romantic relationship, a broken heart is really a “wounded spirit.”
I also believe Jesus gives us a clue as to where our human spirits may be located at in our beings in the following verse. The New King James Version uses the word “heart”, but the Original King James Version uses the word “belly.”
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart (BELLY) will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:38)
When we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and enters into our human spirits. Our spirits are thus baptized with His actual presence at the exact moment of our salvation with the Lord. This is the baptism that the Bible is talking about when it says that there is only one baptism.
However, what the charismatics are referring to is a second experience where the Holy Spirit now comes up and enters into your soul. Your spirit has already been baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment of your salvation with the Lord, but now God wants to take it one step further. He now wants to baptize your soul with his Holy Spirit.
Another word that can be used for the “baptism” of the Holy Spirit where He will now enter your soul area is the “release” of the Holy Spirit into your soul. The Holy Spirit will release from your spirit to come up and enter into your soul.
I believe this is what Paul was referring to when he commands us to be “filled with the Spirit.” If our spirits are already filled up with the Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation with the Lord, then what else needs to be filled up? It is our souls.
When you have received the second gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, you are now considered “Spirit-filled.” Both your spirit and your soul are now filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus tells us in the above verse that out of our “belly” will flow rivers of living water, I believe that He may be telling us that our human spirits are located in our belly areas.
For those of you who have ever felt “heart pain” in a broken, love relationship – if you will recall, the pain you were feeling was in your belly area. It feels like there is a knife on the inside of your belly area just tearing you up. Again, a broken heart is really a wounded spirit, and when your heart or spirit has been wounded or hurt, you will literally feel physical pain in your belly area.
1. The House Analogy
Another way to try to understand all of the above is what I call the house analogy. When you buy a house, you will get two things – the house and the front and back yards. The analogy is that your house is your soul and your front yard is your spirit.
When you receive God’s free gift of salvation through accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit enters into your front and back yards, which is your human spirit. However, He now wants to go one step further and come into your actual house, which is your soul area. Why? Because this is where you really live at. You spend most of your time in the house as versus being outside in the front and back yards. Jesus says in the following verse:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)
I believe Jesus is not only telling us that He is literally going to come into our human spirits at the moment of our salvation with Him, but that He can also enter into our souls through the Holy Spirit. Even though Jesus is in heaven, He now lives on the inside of us “through” the Holy Spirit.
Just as Jesus is living on the inside of us and making contact with us through the Holy Spirit, we likewise can make direct contact with both Him and God the Father through the Holy Spirit. It is “by, in and through” the Holy Spirit that we have direct access to both God and Jesus who live and dwell in heaven. Here are several good Scripture verses proving the above points:
a) This first verse tells us that the Holy Spirit literally lives on the inside of each of us.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
b) Now that we know that the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of each of us, and that both God and Jesus live in heaven – watch how we make direct contact with both God and Jesus in heaven, which is through the Holy Spirit:
1. “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18)

2. “And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:24)
These two verses specifically tell us that we can make direct contact with both God and Jesus who live in heaven “by the Spirit.” The second verse tells us that Jesus literally lives and abides in us “by the Spirit.”
2. The Telephone Cord Analogy
Another analogy to fully understand how we can make direct contact with God and Jesus in heaven through the Holy Spirit is what I call the telephone cord analogy. We can pick up a telephone and call someone 800 miles away. Even though that person is physically far away from us, we can still hear their voice as if they were only two inches from our ears. It’s as if that person is literally in our actual presence.
It is the same way with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Even though God and Jesus dwell in heaven and do not live on this earth, we can still make direct contact with the both of Them through the Holy Spirit. It is by, in and through the Holy Spirit that we can make direct contact with the both of Them – the same way we can make direct contact and talk to someone else 800 miles away because of the telephone wires that will connect us to the person that we are talking to.
The Holy Spirit is like the “telephone wire” that enables us to connect to and make contact with both God and Jesus in heaven. We can talk directly to God and Jesus as a result of having the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, and both God and Jesus can also talk directly to us through the Holy Spirit as well.
Once the Holy Spirit comes up and enters into your soul as a result of having received this gift – you will be able to hear God much better and much clearer because the Holy Spirit has now moved up into where you really live at – your soul. This is why this gift is so important and so vital for all Christians to have.
I will end this article with all of the incredible benefits and blessings that you can expect to receive if you decide you want to take the plunge and receive this gift. These benefits and blessings are powerful and life changing, and they will all completely change and transform the quality of your life.
3. Final Note
If you have not been able to receive this gift at an altar call at your church, here is a very simple 5 step process that you can take that will help you to be able to properly receive this gift from the Lord. However, before I go into each of these five steps and exactly what they will entail, I would like to state one more thing before leading you into this gift.
In my opinion, this gift is the second greatest gift that you can receive this side of heaven. The first greatest gift is the gift of eternal salvation – where you accept and receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. There is no greater gift than this one. With this gift you are truly born again into the kingdom of God and you will go straight to heaven when you die and cross over. This gift now gives you permanent, eternal life with the Lord.
However, I believe that receiving the baptism or release of the Holy Spirit to come into your soul is the second greatest gift that anyone can receive while living down here on this earth. Just stop and think for a minute what is really happening when you do receive this gift.
You receive the Holy Spirit into your human spirit when you get saved. However, this gift will now take you one step further. This gift will now allow the Holy Spirit to release from your spirit to come up and enter into your soul. Your soul is who you really are. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead. He is God and Lord Himself.
Once the Holy Spirit releases to come up into your soul, you are going to be as close to Him, God and Jesus as you possibly can get while living down here on this earth. Through the Holy Spirit, you will have direct access, a direct connection to both God and Jesus in heaven. This gift is just going to bring you that much closer to the Three of Them due to the fact that He will now be residing with you up in your soul area. You will be truly Spirit-filled when this happens.
For some Christians, this may be a bit too scary. Many Christians are afraid of God and they would prefer to keep Him at a safe distance. This gift is really only for the true seekers. This gift is only for the those who are willing to completely lay down and fully surrender every area of their lives over to God the Father for whatever His purposes and plans are going to be for their lives.
For those of you who do have this fear of God for whatever reason, I can tell you without any shadow of a doubt, that there is absolutely nothing to fear about either God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Once you really make direct contact with the three of Them, once you really feel Their perfect and unconditional love that They really have for you, any fears that you may have had in the past will completely melt away.
God will perfectly and gently handle you at your present level of spiritual development with Him if you decide that you do want to take this bold step and receive this gift. God will gradually work Himself and all of His ways into you so as not to scare or overwhelm you.
Remember – since God is totally perfect in His very nature and in all of His ways, this means you can completely and totally trust Him to perfectly handle you in your own personal relationship with Him. He has nothing but your best interests at heart.
HOW TO RECEIVE THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
To properly receive this gift, and to make sure that you really do receive it when first asking for it, here is a simple five step process that you can take that will help you receive this gift the first time you ask for it. If you properly prepare yourself by going through these five steps, then you will definitely receive this gift the first time you ask and press in for it. Here are the five specific steps.
1. Right Motive
The first thing you must have before asking God for this gift is the right motive. This one right here is where many Christians miss getting it the first time around.
Some people may want this gift because some of their friends may have just received it, or they want the gift of tongues, or they want God’s power to be able to do what their will is rather than what God’s will is going to be for their lives. In other words, they want this gift for their own selfish purposes rather than for what God wants to do with their lives.
The two main reasons that each Christian should want to have this gift for are the following:
1. To be able to draw closer to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in your own personal relationships with each of Them. The number one thing that God wants from each one of us more than anything else is a one-on-one, intimate, personal relationship. Once you receive this gift, you will be able to draw that much closer to the Three of Them and They will then become much more active in your personal life.

2. The second main reason that you will want this gift is so that you can have God’s supernatural power flowing through you so you can fully accomplish whatever God’s perfect will is going to be for you in this life. This is where you can really enter into what is called the anointing. The anointing is the power of the Holy Spirit operating through you to accomplish whatever it is God wants you to do for Him.
If God calls you to be a policeman, then He will anoint you with His power to be a great policeman. If God calls you to be a doctor, then He will anoint you with His power to be a great doctor. In order for God’s anointing to really be able to properly flow through you, you have to receive this gift. You will have much more of God’s supernatural power operating and flowing through you if the Holy Spirit is residing up in your soul area rather than just down in your spirit.
Good case in point was an evangelist by the name of Dwight Moody. Before Dwight Moody received this gift, he was just a “good” evangelist in getting people saved and led to the Lord. However, two older ladies at one of his meetings told him one time that he would get many more souls saved if he would just receive this gift. They told him that he was lacking God’s full supernatural power – God’s full anointing when he was preaching.
After he found out what this gift was all about and then properly received it from the Lord, his ministry took off like a rocket! He led many more souls to the Lord than what he was doing before he had received this gift. I recall reading that after he had received this gift, he could not believe the difference in his preaching and the results he started to get.
He said he was preaching the exact same messages that he had been preaching before he received this gift, but many more people would come up to the altar to get saved after he had received this gift as compared to how many were people coming up before he had received the gift. He said that the power of the Holy Spirit operating through his ministry dramatically increased after having received this gift. As a result, he ended up becoming one of the greatest evangelists of all time.
The difference was the anointing – and what got the anointing on his ministry was receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit!
Many Christians, after studying what this gift is all about, and realizing that God can release this kind of supernatural power in their lives, will seek after this gift for the wrong reasons. They will seek after this gift to get the power of God operating through them so they can use it for their own selfish purposes and agendas.
So the first step you have to take is to make sure that your motives are right and pure with the Lord. If they are not, then God will not release this gift to you. He will not allow His anointing to be tampered with or to be used for one’s own selfish purposes. You have to really want this gift because you want to be able to enter into a much deeper, personal relationship with God – and that you will now need His power and anointing to be able to flow through you so that you can fully accomplish whatever His divine destiny is going to be for your life.
God will be able to read right through your thoughts and motives on all of this. If you are not sincere with Him as to why you are really wanting it, or you are seeking after this gift for all of the wrong reasons, God will then see right through your impure motives and withhold this gift from you until you can come to Him for the right reasons and the right motive. So the first step and first requirement is – that you make sure that you properly examine your motives as to why you are seeking after this gift.
If you can honestly say that you really want this gift for the above right reasons, then you are now ready for step two.
2. Decide If You Really Want It
Once you have examined your motives and you know that you can approach God with the right reasons and right motives for wanting this gift – then the next step is to decide if you really want this gift. This may sound a bit redundant, but it isn’t. This gift is only for those who want to go all out for God. It is only for those who are willing to put the pedal to the metal for God.
If God is going to allow the Holy Spirit to release up into your soul area, then He is going to want you to do something with it. God has a specific call, a specific purpose, and a specific plan for each person’s life. If God allows the Holy Spirit to release up into your soul area, then you are going to have God’s power available to you to do what He wants you to do with your life.
If you are not willing to be used by God for whatever He wants to use you for in this life, then His anointing is just going to be wasted and He will more than likely withhold this gift from you. Again, this is another reason why God may not release this gift the first time someone asks for it. This person does not really understand the ramifications and responsibility that comes from receiving this gift.
If you are not willing to go all out for the Lord in this life, then you will be wasting both your time and His time by asking for this gift. Many Christians, after really realizing the responsibility and ramifications that come with this gift, really do decide not to press in for it because they know they cannot give God a full and unconditional commitment to fully serve Him.
Some Christians are also afraid to get to close to God in their own personal relationships with Him. This kind of unhealthy fear will also prevent you from being able to receive this gift.
These first two steps – having the right motive and really wanting this gift – will be the main determining factors as to whether or not you will receive this gift the first time you try asking for it. If your motives are not right, or if you are not sure that you really want this gift and the responsibility and ramifications that will go with it, then chances are, you will not receive it.
This is why many people do not initially receive this gift when they first go up for it at the altar calls at their church. They have not been properly prepared as to what this gift is really all about, nor have they been properly prepared as to what God will expect from them if He should release this gift to them.
If you decide that your motives are right and pure, and that you really do want this gift and are willing to accept the responsibility and ramifications that will come with it – then you are now ready for step three.
3. The Full Surrender
Once you realize what this gift entails and that you will have to be willing to fully surrender to whatever God’s perfect plan and destiny is going to be for your life – then the next step is to take that big leap of faith and fully surrender everything over to God the Father. What God wants from you are four things:
• your body
• your soul
• your spirit
• your entire life
He wants all three parts to your being – body, soul and spirit. If you notice in the above verse at the top of this article, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, God wants to sanctify you completely in all three parts of your being – spirit, soul and body.
The fourth thing that God will want from you is your entire life – and this will literally include everything. It will include who you will marry in this life if that will be in God’s perfect will for your life, what your call or calls are going to be, and what jobs you will be taking in this life.
In the Bible Basics section of our site, we have another article titled “The Full Surrender.” In this article I give you all of the main Scripture verses proving and showing to you that this is something that God the Father really wants from each and everyone of us. If you are not willing to make a full and complete surrender of your body, soul, spirit and your entire life over to the Lord – then He will probably not allow this gift to be released to you. The full surrender prayer will be included in the final step where you will pray and ask God to release this gift to you.
If you can now say that you really do want to receive this gift for all of the right reasons, that you have no fear in receiving it, and that you will now be willing to fully surrender every aspect of your life over to God the Father, then you are now ready for step four.
4. The Full Cleansing
Before asking God to allow this gift to be released in you, I feel every Christian should be willing to go through what I call a full cleansing. What this entails is that you simply confess any sins that you may have on you that have not already been confessed and forgiven under the Blood of Jesus.
For those of you with a Catholic background, it would be like going to confession before receiving communion. Imagine if you got a message from God the Father and He told you that He was going to send Jesus down to visit you at your house on a specific date. What would be the first thing that you would want to do? You would want to clean your house from top to bottom. Everything would be properly dusted, the carpets vacuumed, everything put away in a nice and neat orderly fashion, etc. Why? Because you would want Jesus coming into a “clean house” to visit you.
The same analogy can now be used with the Holy Spirit. Since this gift is receiving the presence of the Holy Spirit up into your soul area – the first thing you are going to want to do is to make sure that you have a “clean house” for Him to come up into. Your soul is your house. So how do you clean your soul up in order to properly receive His presence up into your soul? By fully confessing every known sin that you have not already confessed yet. You want a “clean slate” in order to really be able to receive Him up into your soul.
There are two parts to properly do this and they are as follows:
1. The first thing that you will want to do is take about 4-7 days to really do this right. Get a pen and piece of paper and write down any known sin that you still have lingering on you that you know that has not been fully confessed before God the Father to receive His full forgiveness for. Once you write down everything you can think of, then ask God to show you any other sins that you may have in you that you may not be aware of that are sins in His sight.
Many of us have hidden sins that we are not fully aware of that really need to be confessed and washed clean under the Blood of Jesus. You may be holding unforgiveness towards someone and God is viewing this as a sin, but you are not. You are not fully aware that this is a sin in His sight. Be sensitive to any sins that the Holy Spirit may bring up to your mind’s attention over the course of about 4-7 days. Give God that long to reveal any hidden, secret sins that you may have in you that you may not be aware of.
After you have written down everything that you feel is a sin in His sight, then simply go to God in prayer and confess each one of these sins as a sin, and then accept His full forgiveness for each of these sins. Here is a sample prayer that you can use to make sure that you do this right:
“Father,
I now come before You to fully confess my sins of (the name of each of your sins). I fully admit that what I have done was wrong and sinful in Your sight. Father, in Jesus name, I now ask that you please forgive me and wash away all of my sins by the blood that Your Son Jesus has personally shed for me on the cross. I also ask by the power of the Holy Spirit that you give me the power not to do any of these specific sins ever again.
Father, I now believe that I have been fully forgiven and that my sins will no longer be remembered by You.
Thank you Father.
Thank you Jesus.”
Here is the Scripture verse backing up the above prayer and confession:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Notice that we have to first confess our sins directly to Him before He will forgive us on each of our sins.
2. The next and final step is to then deal with any type of heavier sin that you may have in your past. And here is where I need to give each of you a major warning.
Any previous “heavier” sins such as alcohol or drug abuse, any involvement in the occult, any involvement in a cult or false religion, or any involvement in a homosexual lifestyle – these types of heavier sins must not only be confessed – but they must also be renounced before God the Father.
When you fully renounce something before God the Father, you are telling Him that you will never, ever go back to that activity again. All of these heavier sins have one major thing in common – they are all major door openers to the dark side, to Satan’s realm where he and his demons roam.
Some people will get demons attached to them as a result of engaging in one or more of the above activities. If you do not confess and renounce these types of heavier activities before God the Father, then the demons who may have attached themselves to you as a result of engaging in any of these activities will still have a legal right to stay attached to you.
If you do not confess and renounce these types of heavier sins before God the Father, then what could possibly happen is that a demon will enter into your soul area when you ask for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit rather than the Holy Spirit entering up into your soul area. There have been documented cases of this happening, all because the person was not properly prepared before trying to receive this gift! And once that demon or demons enter into your soul area, then you are going to have to get them cast out of you by way of an actual deliverance!
So make sure that if you have had any past involvement in any of the above mentioned activities, that you both confess and renounce that sin before God the Father, and then go ahead and speak out loud to any demons who may have become attached to you to now leave you in the name of Jesus Christ, since their legal rights have now been fully taken away from them with you both confessing and renouncing this heavier sin before God the Father.
Here is a sample prayer and how to properly do this:
1. “Father, I now come before You to fully confess my involvement in (name the sin activity) as a sin. In addition to confessing it as a sin, I now wish to fully renounce my involvement in (name the sin). Father, in the name of Jesus, I now fully renounce my involvement in (name the sin) and I promise and vow to You that I will never, ever return back to it again.”
Now you will need to speak directly to any demons who may have become attached to you as a result of engaging in this past activity. This next part needs to be said out loud since demons cannot read your mind or thoughts.
2. “I now come against any and all demonic spirits who may have become attached to me – either on the inside of me or on the outside of me as a result of my involvement in (name the activity). I have now fully confessed and fully renounced my involvement in (name the sin) to God the Father and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
My past transgressions in this activity have now been fully forgiven under the blood of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You no longer have any more legal rights to stay attached to me in any way, shape or form. My sin has now been fully forgiven and completely washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.
I now plead the blood of Jesus Christ against each and every one of you. All of your legal rights have now been completely broken and taken away. You no longer have any more legal rights to stay attached to me.
Demons, I now command you, in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to leave me right now and forever more – and you are to never, ever come back on me again. I repeat, each and everyone of you is to leave me right now in the name of Jesus Christ and you are to ever, ever come back on me – ever again! Go now in the name of Jesus Christ!”
If you have drawn any demons in on you as a result of any participation in any of the above activities, then the above confession, renouncement and engaging directly with the demons should take care of the problem.
One final note – when I say any involvement in the occult, I mean any involvement whatsoever. If you have played with a ouija board even one time, if you have gone to a fortuneteller even one time, if you have been hypnotized even so much as one time – you need to go ahead and go through the above cleansing just to make absolutely, positively sure that you are clean and free of any demonic spirits before asking for this gift. It is much better to be safe than sorry on this.
I am going to go ahead and list some of the occult activities that will need to be confessed and renounced before God if you do want to press in for this gift. Any involvement in any of these occult activities need to be fully confessed and fully renounced before God the Father before attempting to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Here is the list:
1. Fortunetelling of any kind
2. Tarot Cards
3. Ouija Boards
4. Séances and any involvements with mediums or spiritists
5. Astrology and any form of horoscopes
6. I Ching
7. Hypnotism
8. Transcendental or any type of far eastern meditation
9. Witchcraft
10. Satanism
11. Voodoo
12. Channeling of any kind
13. Astro projection
14. ESP
15. Dungeons and Dragons
16. Any New Age techniques or activities
17. Necromancy
If you are willing to pass all of the above four steps – then you are now ready to receive the baptism or release of the Holy Spirit so He can now release from your spirit to come up into your soul.
If your motives are right and pure, if you have decided that you really want this gift, if you are willing to make a full and complete surrender of your body, soul, spirit and entire life over to God the Father, and are willing to properly go through the above cleansing process in order for the Holy Spirit to have a clean house in which to be able to enter into – you are now really ready to receive this gift and it will now become very easy for you to do so. The hard part is now over.
I really feel that the reason many people do not receive this gift when trying to get it quickly at a church service is that they simply have not been properly prepared to receive it. The above four steps will properly prepare you to receive this gift if you are honest with yourself when you complete these four steps.
5. Prayer to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
If you have successfully completed steps 1-4, then the only thing left to do is simply to go to God the Father in prayer and ask Him to allow the Holy Spirit to release up into your soul. It really is that simple. You do not have to go into any type of major travailing or prevailing trying to get God to release this gift to you.
Any travailing or prevailing would have been done in steps 1-4 where you had to make a personal decision with yourself as to who is going to run your life – you or God. You may have also wrestled with the Lord on going through the cleansing process in reference to some past or hidden sins that He wanted you to confess as sins in order for your house to be clean enough to allow the Holy Spirit to enter into your soul.
If you have successfully passed those steps on the full surrender, having the right motives, and allowing God to clean you up on the inside with any sins that He wanted confessed, forgiven and washed completely clean under the Blood of His Son, then the hard part is now over. This gift will then be released to you by way of just a simple prayer and request to God the Father. Simply ask God the Father in a simple prayer request and you will then receive this gift from Him. This gift is then accepted by simple faith and belief.
Here is a simple, basic way that you can word your prayer to God the Father to receive this most glorious gift. Notice in the prayer that you are agreeing to make a full and complete surrender of your entire life over to Him.
“Father,
I believe that I am truly saved and born again. I believe that all of my sins have now been fully forgiven and washed clean under the Blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Father, I now, by an act of my free will, turn my entire life over to You. I now place my body, my soul, my spirit and my entire life into Your hands. I now ask that You place and enter me into Your perfect will for my life. I now ask that You set me up on the perfect plan and destiny that you have set up for my life.
Father, I now want to go one step further. I now want to receive the Baptism of your Holy Spirit – the release of your Holy Spirit to come up and enter into my soul from my spirit.
Father, in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, I now ask that you allow the Holy Spirit to enter into my soul. Father, from this moment on, by an act of strong faith and belief, I am going to believe that the Holy Spirit has now entered into my soul – regardless of whether or not I feel anything.
Thank you Father.
Thank you Jesus.”
What completes this prayer request is your faith and belief that God has now granted it. If you have passed steps 1-4, then there is no reason for God to withhold this gift from you and you can now start walking believing that the Holy Spirit has now entered into your soul.
What you will need to do now is to start to establish a direct, personal, one-on-one relationship with the Holy Spirit Himself just like you have with God and Jesus. Seek to establish a Father-child relationship with God the Father and a best friend relationship with both Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
The apostle Paul tells us that we can enter into a personal relationship direct with the Holy Spirit Himself. Here are two good verses giving us this revelation:
1. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and thecommunion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)
2. “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit …” (Philippians 2:1)
These two words above –“fellowship and communion” – tell us that we can enter into a personal relationship direct with the Holy Spirit Himself!
The word “communion” means to have a direct partnership with someone, to share with someone, to have fellowship with someone. These two words spell one thing – personal relationship!
What will really kick this gift into full operation is for you to start to establish a direct, one-on-one, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit Himself. Simply start talking to Him like you would a best friend. He is right there on the inside of you.
WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE OF HAVING RECEIVED
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
When you first receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, one of three things may happen:
1) The Gift of Tongues
Some of you may receive the gift of tongues right off the bat. If you do, that is great. You have just been given a powerful prayer gift from God and you can now start to use this powerful gift in your prayer life with Him.
However, I want to state one thing about the gift of tongues in reference to the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There are many charismatic churches that teach that the gift of tongues is the only evidence of having received this gift. In other words, if you have not received the gift of tongues, then you have not received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
I personally believe that this teaching is really wrong. The Bible specifically says that the gift of tongues is one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit and that each of these gifts – including the gift of tongues – are manifestations as God wills, not as we will! In other words, some people get the gift of tongues and others do not!
Here is what the Bible says about the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit which includes the gift of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:4 goes into each of the nine gifts. At the end of this verse, it then reads as follows:
“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
This verse tells us that God gives each of these gifts to who He wills – not as we will. We can seek after these gifts and ask God for them, but God will be the One to decide who gets what. Some people have a mental block or fear about receiving the gift of tongues. God is not going to hold someone back from receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit just because someone is not really ready to receive the gift of tongues.
I know plenty of Spirit-filled people who do not have the gift of tongues. Charismatics like to draw this conclusion from the story of Pentecost. When the apostles first received the Holy Spirit in the upper room, they came out speaking in other tongues. But just because they came out speaking in tongues the first time they received the Holy Spirit does not mean that God was setting a specific pattern that the gift of tongues was the initial evidence of having received the Holy Spirit.
Scripture has to be interpreted in light of other Scripture. If their conclusion is correct, then it does not line up with the above verse on the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit – where each of the 9 gifts are given as how God wills, not as we will – which will include the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues is not listed as an exception to this statement.
I have read many stories of how some people thought that they had not received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, all because they had not received the gift of tongues – when in fact they had already received it. This kind of false teaching can really mess with your mind if you are seeking after the Baptism of the Holy Spirit expecting to receive the gift of tongues as the initial evidence of having received this gift.
2) Some Kind of Manifestation
Some may receive an actual inner manifestation from the Lord when first receiving this gift. Some will actually feel the presence of the Holy Spirit on the inside of them. He will actually manifest His presence on the inside of their souls when He first comes up.
If this should happen to you, what you will literally feel is God’s love for you. Depending on how strong the Holy Spirit wants to manifest Himself to you, you may actually start to cry when this manifestation starts to occur.
If this should happen to you, do not be afraid of it. This is an incredible experience to be able to feel the manifest presence of God on the inside of you. The Holy Spirit will control the manifestation so as not to scare or overwhelm you. You may literally feel His presence manifest all the way up into your chest and face area.
3) Absolutely Nothing
If the gift of tongues does not manifest in you or you do not receive any type of inner manifestation from the Holy Spirit when He first enters into your soul – then the next thing that may happen is absolutely nothing! And this is what actually happens most of the time. There are no manifestations, either of His presence or with the gift of tongues.
However, just because nothing has happened does not mean that He has not entered into your soul. So how do you know that you have really received this gift?
This will now lead us into the last section – the benefits of having received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. You should start to receive and experience some of these benefits over the course of time. It may not happen overnight. However, just be patient with Him. Over the course of time the Holy Spirit will start to miraculously show Himself to you in a wide variety of ways.
Here is a list of some of the things that you can look forward to receiving after you have received this gift from the Lord.
THE BENEFITS OF BEING
BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
I could do an entire article on each one of these benefits, but to keep this particular article concise and to the point, I will just touch briefly on each of the things that you can expect to possibly happen to you after you have received this gift from the Lord. I will be touching more on some of these benefits and blessings in future articles.
One last thing before I start listing out each one of these incredible benefits. In order to get any of these benefits to be fully released to you – you will have to do your part in all of this. You will have to seek to establish a close, intimate, personal relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And you will also have to spend some kind of good, quality time getting to know more about Them and all of Their ways by studying the Bible.
The Bible says that God will give back to us with the measure that we use. In other words, if you want God to give you 100% from His direction – then you have to be willing to give Him 100% from your direction. Seek – and then you will find. Ask – and then you will receive.
If you do not seek – then the reverse is also true – then you will not find. I believe there are spiritual laws that are in operation in God’s realm, and God simply will not put forth any effort to show Himself to you in a wide variety of miraculous ways unless you are willing to do your part by pressing in and start to seek after Him.
Do your part, and watch what God will do in your life – especially after you have received the gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit! Now here are some of the major benefits and blessings that should start to happen to you over the course of time.
1. Deepen Your Personal Relationship With God
As I stated above, when you receive this gift, the Holy Spirit will be able to draw you that much closer to God and Jesus since He is now living where you really reside at – your soul. Since you will now be much closer to the Holy Spirit as a result of Him filling up into your soul – you will now be that much closer to both God and Jesus, since access to the both of Them is made “by, in and through” the Holy Spirit.
2. Hunger for the Word of God
Since you will now be brought much closer to the Three of Them as a result of having received this gift, the first thing the Holy Spirit is going to want to do with you is to increase your knowledge base about the Lord. When you enter into a true, personal relationship with someone, the first thing you will want to do is to find out everything you can about them.
The Bible is the only true and accurate source we have down here that will teach us about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all of Their ways. So the first thing the Holy Spirit is going to want to do is draw you into the Bible so that you can then start to learn more about the Lord and all of His ways. He will actually put a desire and a hunger in you to want to study the Word.
3. Understanding the Word of God
Not only will the Holy Spirit give you a major desire and a major hunger for the Word of God, but He will also help you understand what you reading from the Bible so that you can start to get some of these incredible truths worked into your personal life. Many Christians, especially newborns, do not understand or comprehend half of what they are reading when they first try to study the Bible.
You will find that the Holy Spirit will start to illuminate your mind as to what certain Scripture verses mean and how they can apply to your daily life and walk with the Lord. This is direct, supernatural revelation and illumination that will be coming directly from Him.
4. The Anointing
With you now being Spirit-filled up into your soul area – you will now be in a better position to receive God’s anointing on your life. The anointing is the power of the Holy Spiritoperating through you to accomplish whatever God wants you to do for Him. It will be God’s supernatural power flowing through you, not your power. Your powers are limited, but God’s power are not!
You will have God’s anointing and power to be the best at whatever He will be calling you to do for Him in this life. If God calls you to be a doctor, then you will have His supernatural power and anointing operating through you so you can then become a great doctor, not just an average doctor. This anointing will not only come on whatever your jobs you are going to be doing for the Lord in this life, but this anointing will also fall on the other areas of your life as well.
If you are married, then God’s anointing will be on you so you can become a much better spouse for your mate. If you are a parent with children, then God’s anointing will be on you so you can become a very good parent for your children. God’s anointing will also fall on the personal relationships that you will have with other people.
If you are open to receiving His full anointing in your life – then there is no area of your life that He cannot come into to give you a helping hand on. The Bible calls the Holy Spirit the “Helper,” and He can help you in every single area of your life, no matter how small or trivial the task or issue may be.
The Holy Spirit will also help you in establishing priorities in your life, along with helping you in properly organizing things that need to get done on a daily basis so that you can fully accomplish everything that needs to get done on that daily basis. In other words, the Holy Spirit can help make your life a lot less stressful and a lot easier to manage if you can learn how to follow His leadings.
5. Improve Your Prayer Life With the Lord
The Holy Spirit will also help you in your own personal prayer life with the Lord. You will learn how to “pray in the Spirit,” which means that both you and Him will be praying to God the Father on the same request at the same time.
With His presence and power now mixing in with your own personal prayers, you will now find yourself starting to get more of your personal prayers answered with God the Father. You will also start to feel and sense a much stronger connection to God the Father when you do go into prayer with Him.
The Holy Spirit will also help guide your prayers so that they are properly worded to the Lord, along with showing you the different types of prayer strategies that you can take with God the Father in order to help increase your chances of getting more of your personal prayers answered!
6. The Holy Spirit Will Start To Teach You Things
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will “teach us all things and guide us into all truth.”The Holy Spirit has been set up by God the Father to be our Teacher and Guide in this life. He will help teach and guide you through every area of your life if you are open to receiving this kind of direct help from Him.
The Bible tells us that those who are led by the Holy Spirit are the true sons of God. This is a Spirit-led life. The Holy Spirit will teach you how to be led by Him so that you can get to where the Lord wants to take you to in this life.
7. Renewing of Your Mind
The Bible tells us that we are transformed by the “renewing of our minds.” God wants to put right thinking into our minds. The Bible gives us all of the information that we will need for this type of renewal to take place.
However, the Holy Spirit is the One who will really help you out in incorporating everything that you will read in the Bible. It is the Word and the Spirit working together that will cause this renewal to take place in your mind.
8. Sanctification
God’s ultimate and highest aim for all of us is our sanctification in Him. God wants to mold, shape and transform us into a better and more holy people. He wants to transform all of us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ. Again, this is all done through combining both the Word and the Spirit together.
We read in the Bible what God wants us to be like. He wants us to be loving, good, gentle, kind and humble people. However, the Word by itself will not get the job done. The Word gives us the knowledge of what God is expecting from each one of us – but the Holy Spirit is the One who will actually make us more loving, gentle, kind and humble. However, He will not do this for us unless we are willing to spend some kind of regular, quality time in the Word learning exactly what God wants to teach us.
The Holy Spirit needs something to work with in order to be able to transform and sanctify us – and that something is knowledge – and that knowledge can only be received by reading and studying from the Bible. This is why you need both the Word and the Spirit operating through you in order to really change you into the kind of person God wants you to become in Him.
9. The Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
This will lead right into the next topic – the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that there are 9 specific fruits that come directly from the Holy Spirit. These are His fruits – not ours. The 9 specific fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, self-control, faithfulness, longsuffering, kindness, goodness and gentleness.
What this means is that His love, His goodness, His joy, and His peace will start to be worked and meshed into your personality so that you can then start to become a much more loving, kind and gentle person. After having received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, these nine fruits will start manifesting into your personality much more quickly and much more powerfully!
The Holy Spirit will also be working some additional qualities into your personality such as the qualities of boldness, courage, confidence and passion. Jesus says in the Book of Revelation that He will spew you out of His mouth if He finds that you are too lukewarm in your own personal relationship with Him. God is looking for passionate and intense people and the Holy Spirit will help to work these kinds of additional qualities into your personality.
10. The Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit
In addition to the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Bible also tells us that there are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. The 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit are the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, prophecy, the gift of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, the discerning of spirits, the working of miracles, the gifts of healing and the gift of faith.
Any one of these gifts will now be able to be manifested through you at any time to be able to help either yourself or someone else. I will be doing another article on this topic in the near future giving you more information as to exactly what each one of these nine gifts are all about. Just suffice to say for now, you will have a much better chance of getting some of these nine gifts to manifest through you after you have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit than you did before you had received this gift.
11. Communication From God
After you receive this gift, you will be hearing from God with much more clarity and with much more frequency. God likes to supernaturally communicate to His children in a wide variety of ways.
The number one way is through the “inner knowing.” Other ways are through the inner witness, leadings, quickenings (where the Holy Spirit will jump things at you), visions, dreams, signs in your circumstances, etc.
Again, this will be another article, but suffice to say, you can learn how to hear from God and the Holy Spirit will teach you how to do it. It is a skill which can be learned and taught.
12. Seeing Things More Clearly
One of the most amazing things that will happen to you over the course of time is that you will start to see things through the “eyes” of the Holy Spirit. You will start seeing things as God sees them, not as man sees them. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will help guide you into all truth and one of the ways that He will do this is by allowing you to see things from His perspective.
You will start seeing the truth in the many different situations you will find yourself in. Not only will you start seeing the truth that is in the Bible, but you will also start seeing the truth in many different things and areas in your everyday life.
The Bible says that the truth will set you free. However, you first have to “see” what the truth is before that truth can start to work to set you free. The Holy Spirit will help make sure that you see what the real truth is on a wide variety of matters and issues in your life. Once you see what the real truth is on a certain matter, then you will know how to properly handle it.
13. Show You Things To Come
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will at times show us things to come – and that is before they come. The reason He likes to do this is so that we can properly prepare ourselves for something that may be coming down the road, whether it be good or bad. He will do this in a wide variety of ways. Again, this will be another whole article.
14. Help Increase Your Intelligence Levels
Since you now have the Holy Spirit operating up in your soul area – He can now help improve your intelligence levels, which will also include improving your ability to remember things. He will help improve your memory and your ability to retain and remember things.
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will help bring back up to our remembrance Scripture verses when we will need them on the spot. He can also do this with a wide variety of other things in your life – including helping you with your school work if you are still in school, and with the different things on your job at your place of employment.
15. Help Increase Energy Levels and Physical Strength
Since the Holy Spirit is now living up in your soul area – He is going to be that much closer to your physical body. Your spirit is located on the inside of your soul. Your soul had thus been acting as a bit of a barrier between your spirit and body.
Before you had received this gift, the Holy Spirit was just living in your spirit. But now that you have received this gift, He is now living up in your soul area and right next to your physical body. What this means is that His presence will start to overlap into your physical body. When that starts to happen, your physical energy levels may start to increase. Your physical strength levels may also increase due to the fact that His power may start to overlap into your physical body.
I have talked with numerous people who have reported that their physical energy levels had increased after having received this gift – and sometimes quite dramatically.
16. Will Help “Keep You”
The Bible tells us that the Lord is our “keeper.” It is God’s job to help “keep us” protected and from straying too far from the straight and narrow road that He wants all of us to travel on. With God becoming much more active in your daily life after having received this gift, expect God to communicate to you with much more frequency and with much more intensity if you should ever find yourself headed for trouble or too far off the straight and narrow road.
God will also help keep you centered and balanced in your walk with Him. Some people seem to get too far away from Him and end up falling out of balance with Him. They then start to become too flaky in their walks with Him. Once this starts to happens, they then do not make the best witness or representative for God when trying to witness to others. As a result, they end up chasing more people away from God rather than leading more people to Him.
After having received this gift, you will become much more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leadings, and it will then become much easier for you to read Him and stay properly balanced in your walk with the Lord.
17. You Will Become More Compassionate
With the Holy Spirit now living much closer to you as a result of Him being in your soul area, another thing that will start to happen is that you will start to find yourself having much more compassion and empathy for other people and their problems and pains. You will start to feel God’s sorrow and pain for their conditions. The Holy Spirit will start to “tenderize” your heart, making it much more tender and compassionate.
The Bible tells us that God will take out our heart of “stone”, which is called a “hard heart,”and give us a new heart of “flesh,” which is a more tender and compassionate type of heart. As a result, you will find yourself being able to cry more easily than you have in the past – and this will go for grown men too.
The Holy Spirit will help make you much more sensitive to other people’s feelings and emotions – sometimes almost to the point of actually being able to feel that person’s emotions, pain or grief to the same degree they may be feeling it.
18. Manifestations
After having received this gift, you will be open to receiving different kinds of manifestations from the Lord. Again, this will be another whole article. But many people are scared to death of this realm, and God will usually only show Himself in this way to the people that would really welcome it and not be afraid of it.
You can get “stirrings” on the inside of you, which are manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s presence on the inside of your soul and body. You can get the laughter from the Spirit on the inside of you which is God laughing through you.
Other manifestations would be getting goose bumps on your skin, getting drunk in the Spirit, getting slain in the Spirit, receiving what I call the “power shakes” – where the Holy Spirit will manifest His power on your physical body making a part or all of your body shake or tremble – fragrance manifestations such as the smell of perfume, roses or other flowers – visions, dreams, prophecies and supernatural signs in your circumstances.
Again, God will usually only do this for the people who are comfortable enough in receiving them. Do not let this supernatural realm scare you away from receiving this gift. The other benefits are too important and they are all needed in order for you to live a victorious and overcoming life in the Lord.
CONCLUSION
If you will really chew and meditate on all of the above benefits and blessings, you will see that they will dramatically change and transform the quality of your life. This is why I say this gift is the second greatest gift that God can give you down here on this earth!
With this gift, God will become much more active in your life and will start to supernaturally show Himself to you in a wide variety of ways. This gift is a major door opener that will take you from the dugout out onto the real playing field where the real walk with the Lord is at.
I will be doing more articles in the future going into much more detail on some of the items listed above.