The Baptism in the Spirit is the Doorway to the Supernatural

I was born again on Easter Sunday in 1973 in a Methodist church from the Word I had heard seven to eight years earlier in a Baptist church. I was very thankful for that born-again experience, knowing my sins were all forgiven, and I was going to Heaven. But I had no clue I was righteous in my spirit or that I could have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. In fact, I didn’t even know who the Holy Spirit was. 

I had never been taught about the Holy Spirit and wondered to myself who is He and what is His part in the Godhead? It was only when I was filled with the Spirit in 1976 and began attending a Spirit-filled church that I began to understand the significance of His place in my life. I was completely ignorant regarding the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and the supernatural power of God available to each of us prior to that time. 

What I discovered from the Word and from my experience in receiving the Holy Spirit is the Baptism in the Spirit is the doorway to the gifts and the supernatural in our lives! Before I was filled with the Spirit, there were zero gifts of the Spirit or supernatural power flowing through my life. After I received the Baptism in the Spirit, all of the gifts of the Spirit and the supernatural were available to me, and they operated through me. 

This created a major transformation in my life. My relationship with God grew by leaps and bounds. I was able to overcome temptation and sin that had ruled my life up to that point, even as a Christian. I was now experiencing the book of Acts instead of just reading about it and praying for it in my life! All of a sudden, the Bible, which had been a dark book to me, came alive with revelation and understanding. This is all confirmed in the following verses: 

“…Surely I will pour out my Spirit on you; I will make my words known to you” (Proverbs 1:23). 

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). 

The Holy Spirit is the Author of the Word. Therefore, He is the one most qualified to reveal the truth to us and give us understanding of the Word He inspired. 

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26). 

Isn’t the Word enough for us? Yes, the Word is enough for us, but we just read in the Word in John chapter 14 each of us needs the ministry of the Holy Spirit to teach us. Even Jesus, the living Word, who had the Bible, the Old Testament Scriptures, was still filled with the Spirit. 

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him” (Matthew 3:16). 

If Jesus needed to be filled with the Spirit, you and I need to be filled with the Spirit. Aren’t we filled with the Spirit at the new birth? We do receive the Spirit in a measure in the new birth, but there is a subsequent infilling of the Spirit each of us needs to empower us to be witnesses for Him. 

In Hebrews chapter 6, the writer describes one of the fundamental doctrines of Christ is the doctrine of baptisms (plural). There are three primary baptisms included in this doctrine of baptisms each believer needs to receive to align themselves to the doctrine of Christ. 

The first baptism is the baptism by the Spirit into the body of Christ at the new birth. The following verse describes this essential baptism: 

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). 

This is the baptism into the body of Christ by the Spirit. With each of these three baptisms there is a different agent who does the baptizing. 

The second baptism is water baptism. This baptism can only be legitimate after one is born again and baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit. We see this baptism described in the following verse: 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). 

The agent of this baptism is you and me or some other human agent. This baptism is the funeral service for the old man. We are brand-new in our spirit. We don’t have a good dog and a bad dog inside us fighting against each other. Whenever we are immersed in water baptism, we are identifying with our new identity in Christ and acknowledging our old man and nature has died. 

The third baptism is the baptism into the Spirit by Jesus. This is the baptism where we are filled with the Spirit that opens up our understanding of the Word and opens us up to operate in the gifts and the supernatural power of God. This baptism is found in the following verse: 

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). 

Notice the agent of this baptism is Jesus, not the Spirit. In this baptism, Jesus immerses us into the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us this baptism can only be received after someone is born again and becomes a child of God. 

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13). 

The context of this verse in Luke 11 is a son asking his father for something. This third baptism can only be received by born-again children of God, therefore is always subsequent to salvation. A lost person can ask and receive Jesus but cannot ask for this baptism into the Spirit until he or she is born again. 

The apostle John makes a clear distinction between these two baptisms. He uses the analogy of different types of water to compare this to two different baptisms and internal works of the Spirit. 

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14 KJV). 

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39 KJV). 

The verse in John chapter 4 describes the work of the Spirit in the new birth. Notice he describes this as a well of water in a person when they receive everlasting life at the new birth. The passage in John chapter 7 speaks of the baptism in the Spirit. Notice in this passage he describes it as rivers of living water flowing out of us as opposed to a well of water in us. 

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me: for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5). 

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). 

This Baptism in the Spirit is for all believers. It equips us to be more sensitive to Him, to operate the gifts in confidence, and to become true witnesses of Jesus’ life and ministry.

Another evidence or character trait of this baptism by Jesus into the Spirit was they all received a new spiritual language the Bible calls speaking with other tongues. 

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). 

Some people get nervous when there is talk about the evidence of being filled with the Spirit is speaking with other tongues. Yet it is in the Bible.

After I received the baptism in the Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues, I had some Christian friends come to me and express concern about this experience. One individual pleaded with me to stay away from things like this because it could open the door to the devil. I asked them how was it possible that acting on something in the Bible could open me up to the devil? I went on to tell them since I was filled with the Spirit and prayed in other tongues, I understood the Bible better, was more in love with Jesus and walking closer to Jesus than I had ever been in my Christian life.

I asked them how something that was in the Bible that had drawn me closer to the Lord, and helped me understand the Word better could possibly be of the devil? They had no answer except to say, “Just be careful with all this tongues business.” I didn’t argue with them anymore. I understand when someone has been taught against something it is difficult to readily embrace it.

Let me ask you a simple question. Have you been filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues since you have believed? If not, you can receive this essential baptism today. All that is necessary is for you to simply ask for it. Let me lead you in a simple prayer right now. 

“Father, I thank You for the gift of salvation I received when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. When I received Jesus, the Spirit baptized me into the body of Christ, making me a member of Christ’s body, and I thank You for that. But I see in Your Word there is another baptism you have for me. That is the baptism into the Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. I am asking You to fill me with the Spirit. I receive the fullness of the Spirit right now with the evidence of speaking in other tongues in Jesus’ name. Amen.” 

Now I want to encourage you to lift your hands and heart to the Lord and thank Him for filling you with the Holy Spirit. Next, I want to encourage you to stop speaking in your native language and begin to speak whatever sound or syllable comes to your mind that is not a language you are familiar with.

If you prayed that prayer, I believe you have been filled with the Spirit. You have been baptized into the Spirit, and you will speak with other tongues as a new spiritual language. 

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s Book, Flowing in the Supernatural

Watch Pastor Greg’s television series on Living a Supernatural Life to learn more.