In 2014, I purchased a car that I am still driving today. Even though I have had it for over ten years, I’m still learning new things about it. Of course, I knew the basics, like how to start it and how to put it into the right gear. However, I was recently having a problem with it and asked for advice from one of the young ministers in my church who has a car like mine. He told me things about my car that I never knew! I said to him, “You mean I’ve been driving my car all this time and I didn’t know that?”

Some of us have been in the Gospel a long time, but God always has more for us to learn. After the disciples had spent several weeks with their risen Lord, I wonder if they were starting to feel like they had all they needed from God. Jesus was with His disciples and followers for forty days following His resurrection. They knew without a doubt that they had been in the presence of a resurrected Savior—they had infallible proof of His deity and authority. They could have thought, Now I know that this Gospel is real! I’m ready to go out and tell the world! But Jesus let them know that they needed something more from God before they could be sent out.

We read in Acts 1:4, “And, being assembled together with them, [Jesus] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Jesus asked His followers to do something that is not always easy: to wait. What they had already received from God was wonderful, but they didn’t know what the future held and that they would need something more to be able to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives. They needed the power of the Holy Ghost.

Like the disciples, we also need to receive the promise of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit empowers us, and if we ever needed power, we need it today to be witnesses to this generation. We live in an era that is rich in information and higher learning, and that is all well and good, but winning the lost is going to take more than intellectual ability. It’s going to take even more than our own experience. It’s going to take the power of the Holy Ghost!

Who is the Holy Ghost?

The terms “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” are interchangeable in Scripture; they are translations of the same words in the original languages of the Bible. The Holy Ghost is the third Person of the Trinity, which also includes the Father and the Son. He is God: He has the attributes of deity just as the Father and the Son do. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He is not an abstract entity; the Holy Spirit is not an “it” or a “force.” He has a distinct personality. The Holy Spirit is to be given the same reverence as God the Father and God the Son. We can get in trouble if we fail to recognize this. The enemy will try to bring confusion about anything that is important for us, including the Holy Ghost, so we need to know who He is and who He is not.

We read in Genesis 1:1-2 that the Holy Spirit was present at the Creation, moving upon the face of the waters. Today as well, He is moving upon creation to carry out the will of the Father. After Jesus ascended, God sent the Holy Ghost to implement the plan of salvation that Jesus had accomplished through His death and resurrection. The Holy Ghost is constantly at work to bring souls to salvation.

The Holy Spirit works by bringing conviction that leads to salvation. We each have our own personal testimony of salvation, and though they are all different, in every case we did not and could not experience salvation until the Holy Spirit brought conviction. By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit calls everyone, and that is truly a miracle. As much as we want to see our own children saved, convicting a heart is something that no mom or dad can do. It is something no therapist or psychologist can do. Convicting sinners is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When a sinner responds to conviction by repenting and turning to God in faith, his soul is saved and regenerated by the Holy Spirit (see Titus 3:5). The Spirit is also active when a soul is sanctified and made holy (see Romans 15:16). We thank God for the Apostolic Faith Church with our practices and guidelines, but following those does not sanctify the heart. Holiness is an inward work that is done through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost

After we have received salvation and sanctification, we still need more from God. We need to be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. That is what Jesus was letting the disciples know when He told them that “they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). Note that Jesus did not say it was optional to wait for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This promise was not only for those who would become pastors or missionaries; it was for all of them, and it is still for all of us today (see Acts 2:38-39). God is faithful to reveal Himself, and then we decide how we will respond.

The 120 who tarried in Jerusalem did not really know what to expect. However, they had heard from John the Baptist, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). Comparing the experience to water baptism would have given Jesus’ followers some sense of what would happen—that they would be submerged or covered by the Holy Ghost. That is how the Spirit comes to dwell in us.

Some people have a difficult time receiving the power of the Holy Ghost because they cannot fully understand the experience. They want to figure it all out first. We live in a society that analyzes and studies everything, but the Gospel is a walk of faith. We must allow God to work in ways that are beyond our comprehension. It took faith to have our sins forgiven at salvation; it took faith to have our carnal nature eradicated at sanctification; and it will take faith to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thank God, He supplies the faith we need.

We read in Acts 2:1, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Being in “one accord” indicates that this group was saved and sanctified. They were in unity with God and therefore with each other as well.

Acts 2:2-4 says, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” We can see from these verses that the Holy Spirit comes in power! Many of us have experienced a powerful prayer meeting when the fire of God fell. Sometimes, we may almost feel embarrassed to talk about the fire of the Holy Ghost because we don’t want to be labeled as fanatical. But the fire is not an emotion—it is power! We need it and we thank God for it.

Scripture does not say exactly what the disciples were praying when the Holy Spirit descended, but we do know that some of the key elements for receiving are faith, consecration, and praise. As we pray, we need to get our focus off ourselves, off others, and on to God. We want to be engrossed fully in Him.

The same Spirit who was at work in our hearts when we were saved and sanctified is the One who will dwell in us when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. Receiving the promise is not complicated; salvation and sanctification are simple enough for a child to receive, and the same is true of the baptism. Some people have received all three of these experiences in a single prayer meeting! That may seem impossible to us, but we serve a mighty God. It does not need to take years to believe, consecrate our lives, and be filled with the Spirit.

Like the disciples, the evidence that we have received the power of the Holy Ghost will be speaking in tongues, which means speaking a known language that we never learned. That is an unusual witness, and here again some people may not want to have that experience because they don’t want to appear strange or fanatical. The reality is, followers of Jesus will never fit in with the world. We are called to be a peculiar people. So why not receive the gift God has for us?

The founder of our church in Washington D.C., Mary Kelly, taught us not to be concerned about the tongues. She said that when the Holy Ghost comes, He will speak through us. We don’t have to be taught to speak in tongues or force Him to do anything; He will make Himself known. For some, this means just speaking a few words, while others cannot seem to stop. It is not about bringing attention to ourselves but about allowing the Holy Ghost to work through us to accomplish God’s will. We are not seeking for a language but for the power that we need, and we can only receive it the way God has ordained.

The former and latter rain

The promise of the Holy Ghost was mentioned in the Old Testament. Joel 2:28-29 says, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” From these verses, we can note that everybody was included in the promise: young and old, male and female.

We also get a sense of some of the work the Holy Spirit accomplishes: giving prophetic words, dreams, and visions. The word prophesy is often used to refer to predictions about the future, but the definition includes more than that. It refers to giving any message that is inspired by God. It means proclaiming the Word of the Lord and preaching the Gospel. “Your old men shall dream dreams” means God will show great things even to those who are up in age. “Your young men shall see visions” suggests that they would see how God would work in new ways, on a new level. For example, the technology we use for Gospel work today was envisioned by somebody long before it was put into use. They had a vision of what we are living today, where people all over the world have the opportunity to hear the Gospel. These are some of the ways the Holy Spirit empowers lives.

In the same chapter, the prophet Joel spoke about the Holy Spirit being given as the “former rain” and the “latter rain.” Joel 2:23 says, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” The former rain was to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, which we read about in Acts 2.

During the centuries following the period of the Early Church, there are reports of some here and there receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Then, in the beginning of the twentieth century, a spiritual awakening began. The latter rain was given as a new outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The Welsh Revival occurred in 1904, then the Azusa Street Revival in 1906, which spread all around the world. Our church is here today because the founder of this work, Florence Crawford, was led by God to a place where she could receive the latter rain.

Sister Crawford had a hunger for more of God, and I understand that she was a rich woman, but she went to seek God among poor people. They were people who didn’t look or sound like her, but she recognized that they had the truth. When someone has a genuine hunger for God, nothing can stop that one from receiving. It does not matter who else is around or what rules the government and society have instituted—the Holy Spirit will override every opposition in order to fill a hungry heart. God did that for Sister Crawford, and He will do it for anyone today.

A necessity for each of us

Every one of us needs to be saved, sanctified, and filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. We may think we have enough without Him, but God’s ways are beyond our ways. Without the power of the Holy Ghost, even highly educated people can be in error. If we lean to our own understanding, we will fail, but the Spirit of God can guide us, keep us, and use us to reach lost souls.

When I was saved, the only thing I knew about the Holy Ghost was that water baptism was done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Others have heard about the baptism of the Holy Ghost their whole lives. It doesn’t matter if you’ve known about the experience for years or are hearing about it now for the first time; what matters is how you respond to what you have heard. Will you believe God and receive the promise?

The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not a trophy to put up on a shelf. This is a life-changing experience that each of us needs. We cannot tell everything about it here, but the Spirit will reveal even more to our hearts as we seek God. For those who have already been filled, He has more for us! God is ready and able to baptize, to re-anoint, and to refresh our souls. He will give us the fire that we need to share the Gospel in this generation.