The Baptism in the Holy Spirit Part III

Now the apostle Paul who had been called Saul of Tarsus was converted by a vision of Jesus himself on the way to the city of Damascus and at the same time stricken blind, after his conversion the Lord sent someone to him with a message in Acts 9:15-18. It does not state here that Paul spoke with other tongues when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit but later in 1 Cor 14:18 he states that he speaks in tongues more than all of the Corinthian church.

The apostle Paul thanked God that he spoke with tongues more than the entire Corinthian church. Gifts of the Spirit had been kind of misused in the Corinthian church so Paul would have had to do a lot of speaking in tongues to do this.

The evidence that is more profound than speaking in tongues or prophesying is the power from on high that accompanies the baptism in the Holy Spirit, this is greatly evidenced throughout the book of Acts. One last thing before I close is that the tongues received at the baptism in the Holy Spirit also serve as a prayer language for the believer it is possible to pray in tongues when you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit and you can do so whenever you want or need to. It is still the Spirit that gives you utterance to do so. It is just like you can start preaching anytime that you want to and when you preach sometimes the words come out so quickly that your head has no time to register them, yet they come out and they glorify God. 

Praying in tongues is a step of faith that you take just like when you open your mouth to preach under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul said again in 1 Cor 14:15 that he would pray with the spirit and that he would pray with the understanding. He specifically uses the phrase "I will" saying "I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding." The use of the phrase I will indicates that that this is something that Paul (or any believer for that matter) could do by choice as an exercise of his own will. He also made a definite distinction between praying and singing with the spirit and praying and singing with the understanding as if praying or singing with the spirit was something that his natural mind didn't understand. 

Look at 1 Cor 14:14. The apostle Paul seems to make a clear case that a believer can speak with an unknown tongue in a language that his natural mind does not understand, in verse 15 he indicates that he can pray and sing in this language as well, and the indication is that he can do it whenever he wants to because he says, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding."

The use of the phrase "I will" as stated before indicates that it was something that can be done by an exercise of the will and Paul indicates that he can do it as easily as he can sing or pray with the understanding. It is still the Spirit that gives the utterance else you would not be able to do it at all. Your natural mind will battle you on this because of what you have been taught either religiously or through just not believing in the supernatural. When you come to this revelation you will break into a new realm spiritually that will build up your spiritual life and empower you for the things of God like nothing that you have ever experienced before.

Please stay tuned for the next part of this series coming soon.