YOU NEED THE HOLY GHOST

Some have been saved for a number of years, some perhaps a year, and some just months or a few weeks. Being saved from sin is wonderful! Old things fade away—and all things become new. I am so glad you're saved!

But in order to be a good soldier in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's not enough just to be saved. There is much more for you! You need to be baptized with the Holy Ghost!

In Paul's time, some believers didn't even know there was a Holy Ghost. "He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost" (Acts 19:2). These people were saved, but it is clear they were not filled or baptized with the Holy Ghost.

I believe we are saved through the power and ministry of the Holy Ghost. But Scripture tells us that in addition to this, there is also a baptizing, an infilling, a possessing that the Holy Ghost does in us!

Jesus himself did not send his disciples and followers into the world until they were baptized with the Holy Ghost. Certainly his disciples had pure hearts. They had faith to heal the sick, to cast out devils. They had the Word of the Lord and already had been preaching Christ and gaining converts. They were witnesses to his resurrection. What more could there be? They were willing to die for Jesus! Wasn't their love for him enough to send them into the world to do his work?

Beloved, none of that was enough! Clearly, there was more. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Do you really want the Holy Ghost? Do you want him to fall upon you and baptize you with fire? You have to be convinced this is for you. You must come to the place where you know you are nothing, have nothing and can do nothing without the power and leading of the Holy Ghost.

You must know he is still baptizing, still falling upon believers—possessing their bodies! "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:38–39).

Every hour of every day, multitudes worldwide are being baptized with the Holy Ghost! They have read of this promise in the Bible or have heard it preached. So they have cried out, claiming the promise, and they have been baptized!

The baptism is especially for those living in the last days. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…. I will pour out in those days of my Spirit" (Acts 2:17–18). He is yours for the asking: "How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13).

God wants you to live and walk in the Spirit. You should not run to find someone else to meet a person's need. You are called to speak the Word of God as the Spirit moves on you, and to lay hands on the sick and cast out devils just as the apostles did. We are all called to be witnesses who are full of the Holy Ghost and power!