Ever feel like an outsider?

[OldSchool2]

Have you ever been baptized by the Holy Spirit? I didn't begin to change until that happened, and it happened by surrendering completely, by not worrying about what people around me in church thought of me. I just threw my hands up in the air and surrendered, you need to want it to receive it, and what a good renewing feeling it is afterwards. That's when you truly begin to grow, and become able to discern what is and what isn't from God in this world, when you are able to recognize spiritual attacks... That's when the old self begins to die, the more you are in the Word daily, the faster you become a new creation. Although yes we are made into new creations when we are saved, the residual worldly self in the subconscious is what takes time to eliminate. Analize your thoughts and spirit daily, and eliminate the parts that want to cling to the world little by little. It is a long journey and battle, but well worth the end result.

So what do you do exactly?  Ask for the Holy Spirit to baptize you?

The passage in Luke 11:11-13 can often precede the gift of the Spirit and speaking in tongues, but like everything else in Christianity, this happens when two or more are gathered in His name, usually in a charismatic store front church.

[gray wolf]

Why haven't the churches I've attended (except for one) taught this if it's the key?

[OldSchool2]

Why haven't the churches I've attended (except for one) taught this if it's the key?

I don't know if this verse is key and I don't know the churches you attended; I only know of one charismatic Catholic Church in all of Fairfield County(!), but if you're looking for the gifts of the Spirit, it's best to seek them with others who want them as well, e.g., a Pentecostal or charismatic congregation.

 

Of course, Paul's "not he who runs or wills, but God who chooses" is always in effect no matter where you go.

BTW, what was the one church that did teach Luke 11?

[Guest P_W]

Gray, my experience came from a desire to know God more and become closer to Him.  As I wrote earlier, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you..."  James 4:8.  This goes along with the Scripture that tells us God will give us, "the desires of our heart..."  Psalm 37:4.

 

I think if you ask Him for more of His Holy Spirit He will grant that to you.  I prayed once, too, for a double portion of what Elijah had.  I often prayer the Scriptures.  Just keep reading your bible.  God is going to honor your efforts at seeking Him with your whole heart.  You are very devoted and it shows.  Don't give up!  

 

Peace to you,

Prair

 

2 Kings 2:9

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” 

[angels4u]

Luke 11:13:

 

I remember praying this prayer after I became a born again Christian

 

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

[gray wolf]

Yes as Paul wrote: what saith the Scriptures??

[gray wolf]

Why haven't the churches I've attended (except for one) taught this if it's the key?

I don't know if this verse is key and I don't know the churches you attended; I only know of one charismatic Catholic Church in all of Fairfield County(!), but if you're looking for the gifts of the Spirit, it's best to seek them with others who want them as well, e.g., a Pentecostal or charismatic congregation.

Of course, Paul's "not he who runs or wills, but God who chooses" is always in effect no matter where you go.

BTW, what was the one church that did teach Luke 11?

It was a Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn)

[OldSchool2]

Why haven't the churches I've attended (except for one) taught this if it's the key?

I don't know if this verse is key and I don't know the churches you attended; I only know of one charismatic Catholic Church in all of Fairfield County(!), but if you're looking for the gifts of the Spirit, it's best to seek them with others who want them as well, e.g., a Pentecostal or charismatic congregation.

Of course, Paul's "not he who runs or wills, but God who chooses" is always in effect no matter where you go.

BTW, what was the one church that did teach Luke 11?

It was a Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn)

This denomination?

"The Church of God began on August 19, 1886, in Monroe County, Tennessee, near the North Carolina border. Former Baptist Richard Green Spurling preached in a millhouse along Barney Creek and eight persons formed a Christian Union for the purpose of following the New Testament as their rule for faith and practice, giving each other equal rights and privilege to interpret Scripture, and sitting together as the church of God. Twenty-one years later the growing movement formally adopted the name Church of God.

"Ten years after the organizational meeting, a revival at the Shearer Schoolhouse in nearby Camp Creek, North Carolina, introduced the doctrine of sanctification to the community. Opposition to this doctrine led to severe persecution, but a spirit of revival prevailed and the Holiness believers experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that included speaking in tongues and divine healing. Such experiences prepared the way for the explosion of the Pentecostal movement in the early twentieth century ...

"In 1896, many members of the Church of God experienced a spiritual outpouring they identified as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Because it was so similar to the experience of the early Christians on the day of Pentecost, it came to be called a Pentecostal experience, an enrichment of the Christian life through the power of the Holy Spirit that empowered believers to be effective witnesses of Christ. The principle distinctive of the Church of God as a Pentecostal organization is its belief in speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance and that this is the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit."

[gray wolf]

I observed some of these things going on in that church, but I kind of stood at a distance.  Having never experienced it, I cannot say whether it was truly the work of God or just ecstasy in worship.  The community church I visited last Sunday was created and administered by the Assemblies of God, but this church does not seem to be teaching that.  Maybe they will in the future, I don't know.

[Hall7]

Keep in mind that not everyone receives the gift of speaking in tongues, although "everyone" can receive the Holy Spirit, and that's what you need if you want things to change in your life.