THE BENEFITS OF HOLY GHOST BAPTISM!

Today I am speaking on “THE BENEFITS OF HOLY GHOST BAPTISM!” What happens when God fills someone with the Holy Spirit?

What difference does it make whether or not you have been filled with the Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues?

The greatest things that will ever happen to you in your walk with God will come as a result of praying with other tongues.

Baptism in the Holy Ghost:

1. Imparts boldness to your service and testimony as a believer. Through it, timid converts become heroes of faith (Acts 4:29-33; Acts 10:4-11).

2. Gives you the power for effective Christian service including aggressive Evangelism (Acts 1:4-5; Acts 2:41-42). The Holy Spirit empowers us to share with others what Jesus means to us and what He can do for them.

Here is he point: witnessing is more than talking — it is living. People will look at your life and if they see differences between what you claim and what is evidenced, they will be turned off because people are looking for spiritual reality.

3. Empowers you to live a victorious Christian life. It empowers you to live above sin and to please the Father.

4. Makes your prayers more effective. The apostle Paul experienced firsthand what the Holy Spirit can accomplish (Rom. 8:26-27).

5. Is our guarantee that Jesus lives. Apostle Peter, speaking of Jesus on the Day of Pentecost, said, "Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, Jesus hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:33).

One way we know He lives is because every time we see someone baptized in the Spirit, we know that Jesus is giving us evidence that He is alive because He is the One that baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

6. At Holy Ghost baptism, diversities of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the believer as the Holy Spirit decides (1 Cor. 12:4-11).

7. Enables you to speak with other tongues. Speaking in tongues is a typical evidence of baptism in the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:4).

Speaking in tongues on its own has many benefits. Such benefits include:

1. Speaking in tongues shows that you are believer. In Mark 16:17 Jesus said, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues….”

2. Speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence or sign of the infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4 says, “And they were ALL FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST, and began to SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

For instance, in Acts 10, the brethren of the circumcision who had come with Peter to the household of Cornelius were astonished when they saw that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles too. They thought that salvation and baptism in the Holy Ghost were for the Jews only.

How did these Jews know that Cornelius and his household had received the baptism in the Holy Ghost? They heard them speaking with tongues, and magnify God (Acts 10:46). Speaking in tongues was the supernatural sign and initial evidence that convinced them that the Gentiles also received the same gift they had received.

3. Tongues are supernatural means of speaking to God. When you speak in tongues you speak mysteries supernaturally to God (1 Cor. 14:2). When you speak in tongues you are talking to God by a divine supernatural means.

1 Corinthians 14:2 says, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue SPEAKETH NOT UNTO MEN, BUT UNTO GOD: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries [divine secrets].”

Notice that when you speak in unknown tongues you are not talking to men; you are talking to God. In other words, God has given to us a divine means by which we can speak to Him supernaturally.

That is the reason no one can understand you when you pray in tongues – you are talking divine secrets with the Father! The devil cannot understand you either and this is the primary reason why he fights speaking in tongues because he cannot get into your communication with the Father. Tongues confuse the devil.

Tongues is the divine supernatural means God has given the Church to communicate with Him.

When you pray in the Holy Ghost, your spirit-man is in direct contact with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 14:14); God is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24). In 1 Corinthians 14:14 Paul says, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my understanding [mind] is without unfruitful” (AMP).

Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit isn’t the one praying. He is only helping you to pray. How does He do that? He gives you utterance in your spirit-man (Acts 2:4). Acts 2:4 says, “….and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Paul is telling us that God has given us a means whereby our spirit-man can pray apart from our understanding. Your understanding has nothing to do with praying in the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the One helping us to pray in tongues, but we are the ones doing the praying. With that thought in mind look at 1 Corinthians 14:2 which says, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue SPEAKETH NOT UNTO MEN, BUT UNTO GOD: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh MYSTERIES [divine secrets].”

What is the meaning of the phrase “in the Spirit?” Ephesians 6:18 says, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”

1 Corinthians 14:14-15 says, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”

Notice the phrase “with the spirit” in verse 15. What then is praying “in the Spirit” and praying “with the spirit?” This implies praying with other tongues or praying in other tongues.

Now you could also pray “in the Spirit” by the spirit of prophecy. Praying by the spirit of prophecy occurs when the Holy Ghost takes hold together with you as you pray in tongues and you begin to pray by inspiration in your own language. Examples to this kind of prayer are found in the Book of Psalms. The prayers of David, Moses and other psalmists were given by the Spirit of God. No one spoke in tongues in the Old Covenant. Yet these men prayed “in the Spirit,” or by the Holy Spirit in the spirit of prophecy.

When you pray by the spirit of prophecy, you get your tongue hooked with your spirit-man, and pray by Holy Ghost inspiration in your own language, yet you mind has nothing to do with it. Your prayers are not something you are thinking up on your own. Instead, they come out of your spirit, inspired entirely by the Holy Ghost. This is not mental praying, or praying out of your understanding, even though you understand what you are saying. Rather, this is another way to pray in the Spirit.

God has provided a way for us whereby your spirit-man may pray apart from your mind. “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, MY SPIRIT [spirit-man] PRAYETH….” (1 Cor. 14:14). Through this gift of speaking with tongues, your spirit-man can now communicate directly with God, who Himself is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24).

You see, once you get filled with the Holy Spirit, for the first time, your own spirit-man can talk directly to God. Before that time, you could talk to God with your mind, and your emotions were involved. But speaking in tongues is a means of spirit-to-spirit communication.

When you pray in tongues, your spirit-man is in direct contact with God, who is a Spirit.

4. Tongues are divine means of spiritual edification (1 Cor. 14:4; Jude v. 20). It stimulates your faith.

1 Corinthians 14:4 says, “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself…”

If you want to be spiritually strong; if you want to be full of spiritual power, you must pray regularly in the Holy Ghost.

The word “edification” is not talking about mental or physical edification. It is talking about a spiritual edification, and it is available to every single believer.

To edify means to build oneself up. In Greek, “to edify” means to “charge.” Charging is often used in connection with battery. If the battery of your car runs down, you hook it up to a power source and charge it up. In order words, you build up the battery until it has the power to do what it is meant to do.

As you speak in tongues, you are charging up yourself like a battery. As you pray in tongues, you charge up your spirit-man by the power of the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues charges up and strengthens a believer.

A man that prays in tongues is a man of power. The more you speak in tongues, the more fully your battery is recharged. Therefore the longer you speak in tongues, the greater your power.

Jude v. 20 also links up praying in tongues with building yourself up spiritually. Jude 20 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves [charging your battery] on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”

Tongues are a dynamic means of spiritual edification that works for you and not for someone else!

Praying in tongues will not give you faith because faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Praying in tongues will build you up in your most holy faith. It is up to you to build up yourself on your most holy faith by praying much every day in the Holy Ghost.

Speaking in tongues builds up your faith. It stimulates faith and helps you to learn to trust God more fully.

For instance, faith must be exercised to speak with tongues because the Holy Spirit supernaturally directs the words you speak. You don’t know what the next word will be. But you just have to trust God for that (Prov. 3:5-6). And trusting God in one area helps you learn to trust Him in another area.

Before you can make great experiences in God – before you can see spectacular healings in your ministry, before you can have the most spectacular financial breakthroughs, or the most outstanding experiences of casting out demons – you MUST set aside time by yourself to pray in tongues.

Therefore, if your spiritual battery runs down, you can get it charged: You can pray in the Holy Ghost. This is what God has given to the Church for a divine supernatural communication with Him (1 Cor. 14:2).

Yes, we can be built up by studying the Bible (2 Tim. 2:15). Yes we can be built up by praying the other kinds of prayer too. Yet praying in the Holy Ghost is one primary way God has given to us to edify and build up our spirits, and nothing else can ever take its place.

5. Speaking in tongues helps us to receive might in the inner man. It empowers you spiritually.   Ephesians 3:14-16 says, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father and Lord of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.”

Notice that Paul was writing to Spirit-filled believers here (Acts 19:2, 6). In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prayed that they might be strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner man. You need to receive might by God’s Spirit in the inner man, your spirit-man. And one of the primary ways you do that is by praying in other tongues. As you pray in tongues the Holy Spirit infuses you with mighty power in your inner man.

You need that strengthening in your inner man because the enemy never stops launching attacks against your faith and your life. The devil can be repelled when your inner man is strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit. As 1 John 4:4 says, “…Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

But how do you avail yourself of the mighty strength in your inner man? By praying much in other tongues.

6. By praying with other tongues the Holy Spirit would prepare you for things to come. Praying and speaking with tongues is one way to build up spiritually in order to prepare and be ready for whatever may show up in the future. The Holy Spirit knows the future, and He will show you things to come. This He does by prompting you to pray in the Holy Ghost.

In John 16:13 Jesus said, “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come.” The Holy Ghost will show you the future!

7. Speaking with other tongues keeps you continually aware of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling Presence. And this consciousness keeps you from doing what is contrary to the Word of God. It makes the fear of God real to you.

Continuing to pray and worship God in tongues helps you to be ever conscious of His indwelling Presence. If you are conscious of the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit in your life every day that is bound to affect the way you think and live.

If you remember that the Holy Ghost is in you, you won’t act the way you do when no one is seeing you. Praying and worshipping God in tongues will help you not to lose your temper. It will help you to walk in the Spirit. It will help you not to walk in the flesh.

8. Speaking in tongues helps us to magnify God (Acts 10:45-46). Speaking in tongues is a means of magnifying God. It assists us in the worship of God. To “magnify” means to praise or give thanks to God.

Acts 10:45-46 says, “And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God [For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God].”

Just determine to pray every day in other tongues, and let God be magnified more and more in your life. As a result, you’ll begin to walk in His power to an extent you have not yet seen. People will begin to notice the difference, and they will want what you have!

9. Speaking in tongues is a means of keeping yourself free from the contaminations of the ungodly and the profane [irreverent, showing disrespect to God] elements of the world. For instance, there is much vulgar talk that goes on around us on the job, or out in public. But you can speak in tongues to yourself (1 Cor. 14:28).

In the barbers shop, for instance, if people are telling jokes that are not edifying, you can just sit there quietly and speak in tongues to yourself and to God.

If you can speak in tongues to yourself and to God in Church, then you can speak in tongues in your job place too in a way that won’t disturb anyone.

10. Speaking in tongues is an effective means of praying (1 Cor. 14:2; Eph. 5:18; Jude v. 20; Rom. 8:26-28). It is a way to pray out the perfect will of God. Praying in the Spirit provides a way for things to be prayed for that people wouldn’t know anything about in the natural. The Holy Ghost, however, knows everything. And He is our Helper in prayer.

We already know that the Holy Spirit helps us to pray for things that we do not know how to pray for as we ought. In addition, the Holy Spirit, who knows everything, can pray through us for things about which our natural mind knows nothing.

Paul also made reference to this in Romans 8:26-27 which says, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered [in articulate speech]. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Just because I know how to pray does not mean that I know what to pray for as I ought. Hence Romans 8:26b says, “…we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (in articulate speech). Articulate speech means your regular kind of speech.

When you pray in tongues, it is your spirit-man that is praying by the Holy Ghost that is living in your spirit-man. It is the Holy Spirit within giving you the utterance, and you are speaking from out of your spirit-man. You do the talking; the Holy Spirit gives the utterance.

By praying with groanings and with other tongues, the Holy Spirit is helping you to pray according to the will of God – to pray as things should be prayed for. The Holy Ghost does not groan or speak in tongues apart from you. Those groanings that cannot be uttered in articulate speech come from inside you – from your spirit-man – and escape from your own lips.

The Holy Ghost is not going to do your praying for you. He is not responsible for your prayer life. He is sent to help us pray. Speaking with other tongues is praying as the Holy Spirit gives you utterance. It is Spirit-directed praying. So it eliminates the possibility of selfishness in your prayers.

Therefore, praying in tongues eliminates selfishness in your prayers. It also eliminates your praying outside the will of God, because when you pray in tongues, you are praying the perfect will of God.

Speaking in tongues enables your spirit-man [as distinct from your mind or your own understanding] to pray. God is a Spirit, and He has provided a supernatural means whereby your human spirit can be in direct contact with the Father of spirits (Heb. 12:9).

In 1 Corinthians 14:14 Paul says, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, MY SPIRIT PRAYETH, but my understanding is unfruitful.” 

Therefore, praying in the Spirit [praying in the Holy Ghost] provides a way whereby the Holy Spirit enables our spirit-man, apart from our understanding, to pray to God and commune with Him.

As you continue to pray in the Spirit, you will receive spiritual blessings. It is scriptural.

Praying in tongues allows you to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit should He desire to use you in tongues and interpretation of tongues in your local Church.

Revelation comes by the Spirit. The Holy Ghost would reveal different steps in God’s plan for your life as you take time to pray in the Holy Ghost and fellowship with the Father.

1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

This text is not just really talking about heaven. How? Because of what the next verse says. 1 Corinthians 2:10 says, “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

Paul is saying that we cannot know the things of God by our natural senses. Our natural eyes have not seen, nor have our natural ears heard what God has prepared for those who love Him. But to those of us who will cultivate fellowship through prayer, the revelation of the deep things of God will be given to us by the Holy Spirit.

For instance, it was the Holy Spirit that gave Paul the great plan of redemption. It was the Holy Spirit who revealed to Paul the mystery that was hidden and that has now been made manifest (Eph 3:3-6).

You see, you can study the Word of God and receive head knowledge about what it says. But just because you can quote Scriptures does not mean that those Scriptures have been made real to your spirit-man. For you to enter the reality of a truth, you have to receive it by revelation of the Holy Spirit.

For instance, if you are a preacher or teacher of the Word now, if you would just begin to pray in other tongues on daily basis, I assure you that the Bible will become like a new book to you because you will begin to receive the revelation of what God is saying in His Word. The power that follows your ministrations will tremendously increase.

How does the Holy Spirit search the deep things of God so He can reveal truth to man? 1 Corinthians 2:10-14 says, “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

As you wait on the Lord and pray in other tongues the Holy Ghost would reveal to you the deep things of the Word of God.

You can receive a revelation of your future wife and children – part of God’s plan for your life – as you pray in other tongues. As you take time to pray in other tongues and fellowship with the Father, the Holy Ghost would reveal different steps in God’s plan for your life and ministry.

No wonder Paul said, “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Eph. 1:16-19).

11. Speaking in tongues brings rest to the weary. There is a real spiritual rest and a spiritual refreshing in communicating with God our Father, as our spirits pray distinct and separate from our understanding.

Isaiah 28:11-12 says, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people. 12 To whom He said, THIS IS THE REST wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and THIS IS THE REFRESHING: yet they would not hear.”

What is the rest? What is the refreshing? Isaiah 28:11-12 says the rest and the refreshing is speaking with other tongues.

Many times you may speak with new tongues at length without ever knowing one thing that you’ve prayed for. That’s part of the rest and refreshing. It is refreshing and restful not to know what you are praying about – just entrust the matter to God. You see when you don’t know about such a thing, anxiety and worry won’t set in.

But at times, God lets you know what you are praying about in tongues by you manifest the gift of interpretation of tongues.

The Holy Ghost would reveal different steps in God’s plan for your life and ministry as you take time to pray in the Holy Ghost and fellowship with the Father.

12. Praying in tongues is the most perfect way to give thanks to God. 1 Corinthians 14:15-17 says, “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? 17 For thou VERILY GIVEST THANKS WELL, but the other is not edified.”

“…he that occupieth the room of the unlearned…” refers to those who are unlearned in spiritual things. It refers to spiritual illiterates.

Praying in tongues is the best way to give thanks to God. But in the presence of people, who are unlearned, pray also with your understanding so they can be edified. Offering your thanks in a language people understand allows people to be edified because then they will understand what you are saying.

13. Speaking in tongues tames your physical tongue. Praying in the Spirit helps bring your tongue under subjection. James 3:8 says, “But the tongue CAN NO MAN TAME; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

The tongue is the most difficult member of your body to control. Yielding your tongue to the Holy Spirit to speak with other tongues is a big step toward being able to fully yield all of your members to God; because if you can yield your tongue, then you can yield any other member of your body to God.

14. Speaking in tongues brings peace to your life. This is because praying in tongues helps you to stay [fix, focus] your mind on God.

In Isaiah 26:3 God said, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” This brings peace to your life.

16. Speaking in tongues will help you set your affections on things above. It will help you to seek those things that are above.

Colossians 3:1-2 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

17. Speaking in tongues is the doorway into the supernatural. Praying in tongues is an introduction to the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:1-11). The more you speak in tongues – the more you pray and worship God in tongues – the more the manifestation of the other gifts of the Holy Spirit in your life too. Speaking in tongues is the door to all the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. You must go through the door in order to get to the supernatural. The lesser you speak in tongues, the fewer manifestations of spiritual gifts you’ll experience.

18. Speaking with tongues and interpreting the tongues can convince any unbeliever who is present in the service of the reality of the Presence of God, and that often causes him/her to turn to the Lord (1 Cor. 14:22).

Beloved, speaking in tongues regularly will do you plenty of good. It is the entrance into all the spiritual gifts and the supernatural equipment God has for you.

Tongues is primarily a devotional gift to be used in one’s prayer life for praising and worshiping God, for speaking mysteries to God, and for building up on his most holy faith.

It is the doorway to the supernatural. Tongues is an experience for the rest of one’s life to assist in the worship of God. It is a flowing stream that should never dry up, but will enrich your life spiritually. I therefore encourage you to use it regularly without restraint!

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor)                03.06.2018

Scripture for the week: “Your adversaries will be clothed with shame, and they shall cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle” (Ps. 109:29).