Misconceptions About Receiving The Holy Spirit
In the Early Church, they had no trial-and-error method of seeking and not finding, or of coming to receive the Holy Spirit and going away empty. We should be scriptural and tell people what the Word of God says. Too many times, people tell folks what they think. They give their theory or tell their experience. But did you know that you have no right to preach or to teach your experience? Paul told Timothy, "Preach THE WORD . . ." (2 Tim. 4:2). He didn't say, "Timothy, tell folks what you think about the subject." He didn't say, "Now, Timothy, give people your theory on this subject." The preaching of opinion and theory just produces doubt and unbelief and holds people in bondage. The truth of God's Word will liberate people: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). God's Word will also instill faith in people: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word ofGod" (Rom. 10:17).
Magnify the Word, Not Your Experience
Some people have unusual experiences beyond what most of us have when they are born again or receive the Holy Spirit. It is all right to refer to experiences one may have had, if those experiences are in line with the Word of God. But magnify the Word above experiences. Then let everyone have his or her own scriptural experience, for experiences will vary in many ways. An example of an unusual born-again experience occurred when Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. A light brighter than the noonday sun shone round about him and he heard a voice speaking to him, saying, ". . . Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" (Acts 9:3,4). However, when I was born again, I didn't see any light or hear any voice speaking to me, but I am just as born again as Paul was. Paul never told folks that they had to be converted in the same manner that he was. He never told folks that in order to be saved they had to see a light or hear a voice as he had. He referred to his experience occasionally, but he taught the scriptural way to be saved. ROMANS 10:9,10 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We thank God for Paul's born-again experience, but we should not hold one's experience up as the standard or criteria for being saved. No, we should magnify the Word, and let every person have his own experience as God wills.
Don't Seek Experiences To Receive the Holy Spirit
In the same way, some people have unusual experiences when they receive the Holy Spirit. When I was a young boy preacher, I knew a fine denominational woman in whom I had great confidence. She related to me once how she received the baptism in the Holy Ghost. She said she was seeking God, and she had her eyes closed, praising God. She saw in the spirit a beam of light about as big as a pencil. That beam of light seemed to come down through the roof and the ceiling and hit her right between the eyes. When it did, she started speaking with tongues. Many people have told me, "I heard of people who were seeking the Holy Ghost, and they saw a ball of fire about as big as a basketball. It came and burst over their heads, and they started speaking in tongues." My experience was different; I have never seen any beam of light or ball of fire, but I am just as much filled with the Holy Ghost as anyone. I had the Bible evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit — I spoke with tongues.
I don't doubt that some of those other experiences happened, but God's Word really only promises the evidence of speaking with tongues as the initial sign that a person has been filled with the Spirit. If other scriptural experiences occur, that's fine — as long as those experiences are in line with God's Word. But don't seek experiences. You do have a right, however, to seek to be filled with the Spirit and to speak with tongues. All believers will speak with tongues when they receive the Holy Spirit, but some may also initially be given an additional gift of the Spirit. However, that doesn't mean they have any more of the Holy Ghost than you or I do.
The Need for Biblical Instruction For Receiving the Holy Spirit
Too many times folks have no instructions on how to receive the Holy Spirit. Or even worse, they receive wrong instruction, and therefore fail to receive the Holy Spirit. I've also seen people come to receive the Holy Spirit, and they spoke a few words in tongues quietly. Then I've seen someone slap them on the back and say, "Well, too bad you didn't receive this time! Better luck next time." However, we don't receive from God by luck; the Bible says we receive the promises of God by faith (Heb. 11:6). The gift of the Holy Spirit is one of God's promises that we receive by faith in God's Word. And if a person spoke only two words in tongues, he has received the Holy Spirit just as much as anyone else who might speak fluently in other tongues. Of course, I don't encourage people who only speak a few words in tongues to stop there. But just because people only speak a few words in tongues doesn't mean they haven't received. Acts 2:4 says, ". . . [they] BEGAN to speak...." Many people have gone away discouraged when they actually did receive the Holy Spirit. Many who should have received the Holy Spirit haven't because of wrong instruction and a lack of knowledge of God's Word.
An Example of Wrong Instruction For Receiving the Holy Spirit
Through the years, it has been my privilege to help many lawyers, doctors, college professors, school teachers, and others to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Many of these have related to me incidents of getting wrong instruction to receive the Holy Spirit, such as the story one man told me. He said, "Brother Hagin, I saw this truth in the Bible about receiving the Holy Spirit years ago. I visited a Full Gospel church and came to the altar to receive the Holy Ghost. The people there said to me, 'Lift your hands.' I didn't mind lifting my hands, because I had read something about that in the Bible, so I lifted my hands. "Then they told me to say, 'Praise God.' I didn't mind praising God. I knew that's in the Bible too. But then someone said, 'Say "Glory."' "So I said, 'Glory.' Someone said, 'Say it faster.' So I said it faster. Then someone said, 'Say it like this: Glub, glub, glub . . .' So I said, 'Glub, glub, glub . . .' "Then I got to thinking that I'd never read anything about that in the Bible, so I got up and left the church building, and I hadn't been back to a Charismatic service since." Many honest, sincere, intelligent people have been driven away by unscriptural practices and wrong instruction. We must be simple in our teaching and just teach folks what the Word of God has to say. We must instruct them according to the Word. After all, the Bible declares, "The entrance of thy words giveth light. . ." (Ps. 119:130). Proper instruction in the Word of God will save people hours of needless seeking.
Falling Into a Trance Is Not Biblical Evidence For Receiving the Holy Spirit
One minister said, "I know I received the Holy Ghost because I fell under the power of God and lay in a trance for three hours." That is well and good, but that is not the Bible evidence that one has been filled with the Spirit. You could fall under the power of God and fall into a trance when you are filled, or you could do that after you were filled. But the Bible doesn't say, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and fell into a trance." It says,"... they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and BEGAN TO SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES..." (Acts 2:4).
Experiencing Joy Is Not Biblical Evidence For Receiving the Holy Spirit
Others who have received the Holy Ghost have said, "I don't have the joy I think I should have. I expected to receive great joy." But reading in Acts chapter 8, we find, "And there was great joy in that city" (Acts 8:8). That's verse 8. We don't read that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, however, until verse 17. In other words, great joy is not the evidence of being filled with the Holy Ghost. You should be joyous just because you are a Christian. For example, in Acts chapter 8, when Philip preached the Word in Samaria, there was great joy in the city because many folks were born again. Also, there was great joy in the city because many healings and miracles took place, and because devils were being cast out and people were being set free. You see, joy is a natural human reaction to faith. If you will just believe God, the joy of the Lord will take care of itself. One man was complaining to me that he didn't have the joy he thought he should have, although he was filled with the Spirit. I told him, "When you go home tonight, get on your knees and say, 'Thank you, Lord, for filling me with the Holy Ghost. I know I was filled because I spoke with other tongues just as they did in the Acts of the Apostles."' I told him, "Then when you get into bed, just praise yourself to sleep, thanking God because you received the Holy Ghost. The first thing when you wake up in the morning, give praise to the Lord for filling you with the Holy Ghost. Then throughout the day as you work, praise the Lord because you have received the Holy Spirit. If you are working where no one is around, just praise Him out loud while you work. Otherwise, just praise Him quietly to yourself while you work." The next night as I stood on the platform in church, I saw this fellow in the congregation, beaming as if someone had turned on a neon sign in the dark. I knew without asking him that he had the joy of the Lord. He came to me immediately after the service and said, "Brother Hagin, it worked just as you said." Joy is a natural reaction to faith. If you will believe God, you won't have to worry about having joy. If you don't have joy, it is simply because your faith isn't grounded securely in God and in His Word.
Not What You Feel, But What You Do
Then someone said, "But I don't feel like I think I ought to." But Acts 2:4 doesn't say, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and felt like they thought they ought to." And Acts 9:17 doesn't say, "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus . . . has sent me, that you might receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, and feel like you think you ought to." Acts 19:6 doesn't say, "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied, and felt like they thought they ought to." Acts 10:45 and 46 don't say that Cornelius and his household spoke with tongues and magnified God, and felt like they thought they ought to. Acts 8:15 doesn't say that Peter and John laid hands on the Samaritans, and they received the Holy Ghost, and felt like they thought they ought to. In fact, there is nothing in any of these scriptures about how the believers felt. If it were important how you felt, the Bible would have said so. The important thing is not what you did or didn't feel when you received the Holy Spirit. The important thing is what you did; you believed you received and you yielded to the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues. In each of these instances I just mentioned, believers "spoke with tongues." And if you spoke with tongues, then you received the Holy Spirit too.
It doesn't matter how good you felt, if you didn't speak with tongues, you didn't receive the Holy Spirit because speaking in tongues is the Bible evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In other words, when you are filled with the Spirit, you will speak in tongues. I was preaching in Oregon once, and in the meeting a number of folks came forward to receive the Holy Ghost, so I laid hands on them. I went down the line laying hands on folks, and every one of them received the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues until I came to the last woman. I laid hands on this woman and the Holy Spirit came on her, but she didn't begin speaking with tongues. Therefore, she hadn't received the infilling of the Holy Spirit; she didn't speak with tongues that night, but she jumped up and began to shout and dance a little jig for joy. A woman sitting nearby said, "That's the way I like to see them get it." I said, "But she hasn't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These other folks have, but she hasn't." You see, this woman who was sitting nearby assumed that because the woman was shouting and dancing, she had received the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
In another one of my meetings, a man in the church came forward to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I laid hands on him and he began to speak in tongues. He spoke in tongues for fifteen minutes while I laid hands on others to receive. Then I went back to him and said, "Brother, the Lord reveals to me that there is a thought in your mind that is hindering you from accepting the fact that you have received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit told me that you have always thought that when you got the Holy Spirit, you would jump or dance or run and just have a 'high time."' He said, "Yes, that is exactly what I have always thought." I said, "Well, if you want to run, go ahead. It's all right with me. Or if you want to jump, go ahead. But whether you run or jump or not, you have received the Holy Spirit." "But if you ever see me shout," this man said, "it will have to be God." "What do you mean it will have to be God?" I asked. "It wouldn't be God shouting or dancing or running." "Well, I mean if I ever did that, it would be because God made me do it," he replied. "You'll never do it then, because God will never make you do anything," I said. He left the church, and as he told us later: "I went home disappointed, mumbling to myself, 'I don't feel like I thought I would, so I must not have received the Holy Spirit. If I had received, I would have felt differently than this. I am not happy, I am not exuberant, and I am not in a state of ecstasy. I have felt better than this and have gotten a bigger blessing than this many times.
I just know I didn't receive the Holy Spirit.' "In the night," he continued, "I couldn't sleep, and I began to think, How am I going to know that I've received the Holy Spirit? Just what does the Bible say? The scripture in Acts 2:4 came to me: '. . . and [they] began to speak with other tongues. . . .' "Then it dawned on me and I said, 'Dear Lord, forgive me for being a doubter. I did receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4 doesn't say they felt better. It doesn't say they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and were full of joy, and felt like they thought they ought to. It says they spoke with tongues. And I spoke with tongues.' Then I just lay there and spoke in tongues and praised the Lord for the rest of the night." So we see that folks do need help and encouragement sometimes. Instruction will help people.
It is a mistake to tell folks that they will be joyous after receiving the Holy Spirit. Immediately after the Holy Spirit came upon Christ, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil (Matt 4:1). Sometimes the greatest temptations of life come immediately after we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We shouldn't ask for any more evidence than what the Bible teaches, but neither should we expect any less. We should expect to speak with tongues as the Word of God teaches.
FFT: Unscriptural concept about the Holy Spirit is a misconception!
ACTION POINT: Live by the Living Word of God!
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