Take the Direct Route!
Someone said, "But I remember those wonderful times of seeking God for several years before I was filled." "Well, have you stopped seeking God since you got filled?" I asked. "Because I remember the wonderful time I spent last week seeking God. In fact, I remember the wonderful time I spent today seeking God. I believe in seeking God and tarrying before God, but not to receive the Holy Ghost, or anything else God offers, for that matter." Spirit-filled believers need to seek God just as much as folks who are not filled. But seek God with the Holy Spirit, not without Him. "Yes," someone said to me, "but I learned many lessons in those many years of seeking God for the baptism in the Holy Spirit." I replied, "You could have learned those same lessons a whole lot faster with the Holy Ghost than you did without Him!
And I will tell you something else: The thing you should have learned when you did get the baptism was that you didn't have to do all of that waiting and tarrying in order to receive the Holy Spirit." This person I was talking to started laughing and patted me on the back, saying, "Oh, you have me pegged. You are exactly right. That is the first thing I said after I received — if only someone would have told me, I could have received years before I finally did. If you had just been there to tell me, Brother Hagin, I could have received years before.
" As I said, in more than fifty-five years of having the Holy Ghost myself, I have never told anyone to wait or tarry to receive Him. Someone else said, "More people have received the Holy Ghost after the midnight hour than at any other time." My answer to that is if they received the Holy Ghost after midnight, it's because they didn't believe God before midnight! God is not any different after midnight than He is before midnight! Then there are those who warn, "Be careful about getting in the flesh." In one sense I understand what they mean by the words, "in the flesh." However, in another sense of the expression, you can't get the Holy Ghost any other way but in the flesh! Every person who ever got the Holy Ghost was in the flesh, because we are all still clothed in mortal bodies — the flesh.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel's prophecy saying, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all FLESH . . ." (Acts 2:17). And the Apostle Paul said, ". . . know ye not that your body [flesh] is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" (1 Cor. 6:19). Let's look at what Jesus had to say in John chapter 14 on this subject. JOHN 14:17,23 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and SHALL BE IN YOU [your body or your flesh]... . 23 ... If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM [in his body or his flesh].
The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us in the new birth; our bodies become His temple. So in that sense, we will receive the Holy Spirit in the flesh too! To receive the Holy Spirit, open your entire being to God with a strong desire toward Him. In simple faith, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost that God freely offers, breathe in or drink in of the Spirit of God, and you will be filled with the precious Holy Spirit. Then as a sign or evidence that you have been filled, utterance in other tongues will be given to you. If you are simple enough in faith and strong enough in courage, you can speak that utterance out immediately. If you can drink water, you can drink of the Spirit right now. I am quoting good authority — the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:37-39).
FFT: To receive the Holy Spirit, open your entire being to God with a strong desire toward Him in a simple prayer of faith!
ACTION POINT: Be filled with the Holy Spirit NOW as you pray!
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