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The Greatest Gift is the gift of Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of the Living God who lives in us and with us. He is our Teacher and our Counselor and Helper. When Jesus said we would do the miracles He did and even greater ones, He intended to blanket the world with His Spirit, who would be active and alive in millions of believers.

In Part I of The Greatest Gift, I hoped to emphasize the importance of knowing about Holy Spirit In order to practice the authentic Christian life.  If Jesus made it a point to tell his disciples that He had to go away so that the Helper would come, (John 16:7), it is good for the followers of Jesus to learn about the function of this significant Helper. 

In Chapter 3 of Second Letter of Paul to the Church in Corinth, Paul points out the differences of living under the Law or living under Grace.  Having the knowledge of these two dispensations can clarify understanding and application of all of God’s Word for believers. The dispensation of the Law is in the Old Testament and obedience to the 10 Commandments were the guidelines for the Old Testament. But all these laws were and are impossible for humans to keep!  When Jesus came, with His dispensation of Grace – He shed his blood to cover our sin debt and Grace is the New Testament dispensation, where we live today.  Paul states this in verses 7-8:

 “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?” Emphasis mine.

The appearance of the Holy Spirit in scripture comes in the book of Acts, Chapter 2.  Jesus tells His apostles to go to Jerusalem and wait. (Acts 1:4) This is significant to me.  Jesus asked the apostles to wait. I think it may have been to indicate to future believers, that there is a seasoning that can be beneficial to the believer, a time of anticipation or growth, that prepares us to go deeper with Jesus and grasp the experience with Holy Spirit more completely.  Receiving and understanding Holy Spirit is not like milk for babies but more like meat for the mature in Christ. However, some are saved and filled with the Spirit on the same day, receiving their prayer language right away.  The sanctification process, which includes conforming our soul – mind, will and emotions -to the will of God, takes a lifetime!

I have learned that praying in an unknown tongue is nothing to be afraid of, but rather something to be embraced. Some denominations and Christian leaders shy away from this and negate this very special and unique gift from God. Jesus loves us and all that He did for us and gave to us is for our good and to bring us into a closer relationship with Him.  

Praying in the Spirit allows you to pray when you don’t know how or what to pray for.  It is also a way we communicate to our Heavenly Father, who is Spirit, and when we pray in the Spirit, we edify ourselves. Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:4, “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.” When we edify ourselves, we build up our spirit man and fortify our human spirit with the wisdom of God.  Some have taught that edification can bring healing and that can be true, especially in the case of the healing of your soul – your mind, will or emotions.  As I mentioned  in an earlier blog, the soul is the storehouse of all that has ever happened to you and all you’ve ever done. Any negative experiences, trauma and sinful memories can have a lasting affect on our lives, our mental state and our life choices. I believe using the gift of tongues can be a great benefit in calming our minds and casting all our cares upon the Lord, as we are taught in 1 Peter 5:7. The working of Holy Spirit in our lives is supercharged as we use this gift. He is growing us up in Him, making us less like the world and more like Jesus.

Apostle Paul, after describing the Armor of God states in Ephesians 6, he states in verse 18, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” This implies that praying in the Spirit is the “icing” of the Armor, so as we imagine dressing ourselves with the belt of Truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the footgear of the gospel of peace, picking up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, we can also internally armor ourselves and our souls with our prayer language.

In many Christian churches you will hear an invitation to receive Jesus as your personal Savior, along with a second invitation to received His Spirit or to be filled with the Spirit.  Whenever you hear an invitation to be filled with Holy Spirit, it’s very important to know this – the fullness of the Spirit of God is sealed with your spirit when you sincerely receive Jesus as your Savior, as Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 1:13. But, the “filling” of His Spirit happens when He receives more of you!  You are filling yourself up with Him, allowing Holy Spirit to completely guide your life.  Being a born-again Christian, filled with the Spirit of God gives you a Spirit-controlled life. 

Beverly LaHaye, author of The Spirit-Controlled Woman, says that Holy Spirit is the Helper when it comes to your personal relationships too. “A Spirit-controlled temperament can transform family, social, and professional relationship.  It will help you attain goals more effectively, improve your communication skills, banish anger and combat depression and increase your compassion for others.  The Spirit-controlled life is the ultimate behavior modifier.”

When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, my husband and I had just completed a radio interview about our ministry and two pastors were a part of the program. After the show, they discussed that someone in our city had been raised from the dead!  I wondered why that wasn’t front-page news.  These two pastors told us that they believed purposely being refilled with Holy Spirit is what gave this minister who was involved with this resurrection the spiritual power he needed for God to intervene in this man’s life, or death as it were. They continued to say that we who are in ministry should continually be filled with Holy Spirit because as we minister, we are giving out of the Spirit.  This reminds me of the Living Water Jesus spoke of in John 4 with the woman at the well.  He told her if she drank of the water He would give her, she would never thirst again.   So Holy Spirit is continually available and continually flowing as we welcome Him into our lives.   

Holy Spirit is the original GPS – God’s Positioning System.  God designed us to be His habitation. Witness Lee, author of The Economy of God, says that God is like a businessman and he wants to dispense His “product” into us, which is His Spirit.  When we learn the importance of this and embrace Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do in our lives, we will truly be participating in the fullness of Christianity as the Bible teaches.