What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

The Bible turns out to use this term to mean something very different than what I was originally taught. The "baptism of the Spirit" is not a secondary experience that Christians have after salvation, it is something that happens to everyone who is saved, when they believe.

This is just one question from a long interview I did for the moderators of the r/Bible subreddit. They asked their subreddit to send me a bunch of questions and I spent a lot of time preparing so that I would be able to offer the best answers I could. I'll be posting these answers as individual videos so keep an eye out for the rest in the set.

I'm Mike Winger and my goal is to help you learn to think biblically about everything!

I go live every Monday and Friday at 1pm. Monday is usually a vs by vs teaching and Friday is a live Q&A where I take questions from the live chat on YT.

[ladilaja]

Actually I found a direct contradiction to your view in the Bible, and I don’t think you can explain it away:

Acts 8:14-17 says

“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost” (Acts 8:14 -17 KJV)

Pastor Mike, or anyone else in the comment section, how do you explain this?

[aharmzway]

I don't believe every believer will speak in tongues, but I do believe the greatest sign of having the holy spirit is a changed life, growing in Christ.

[alboggs]

When I first got saved I was attending a Pentecostal church. I was baptized there. At some point I went to the altar to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. At some point a guy came up and grab me from behind in a bear hug and pick me up off the ground and started squeezing me insisting that I speak in tongues to prove that I had received the Holy Spirit. After a minute I started jabbering just so he would let me go. Long story short I go to a different church now.

[servantofchrist]

I remember when I was born again and this was straight after I was baptized. When I came out of the water I felt a waterfall of love flowing through my body coming from above and it was the most unbelievable experience of my life. I tell people it was like a mothers love for a baby times a million. That's my way of explaining. You can't really explain it unless it happens to you. I remember walking outside and everything looked different and soo much clearer. I remember looking at the bark of a tree and the birds flying by and i was absolutely amazed at their beauty and started talking to GOD how did he create such things, and i had looked at the bark of a tree many times as a logger. I was a drug addict, smoker, drinker and gang affiliate before baptism and I had been doing these things for 20 years and I could never quit but it was like I had never smoked anything in my life. I had no desire to smoke or do drugs and that was impossible but now I know it had to have been the born again process I guess you would call it. Just about every Christian that saw me the next day said there was a unexplainable glow over me and it was mentioned by some that I was overflowing with the spirit. My wife, well girlfriend at the time was not a believer and she said she saw a light come through the ceiling when I came out of the water and it shone on me. I'm no super Christian by any means but since that day I have seen the LORD baptise people with the spirit before water baptism and after baptism and sometimes years later. When you think you have him figured out he throws a spanner in the works. His ways are higher than ours and we can never know how he works. The house of Cornelius were baptized as Peter spoke and others through laying on of hands. This is a difficult subject to preach on to be honest.

[Alex.Kalashnik]

This topic deserves a much longer video!

[mombeaubob]

I know my own faith. I always wondered why I never spoke in tongues. But, the promptings of the Spirit are daily. Not having this miracle kept me out of charismatic churches where the pressure to prove my salvation by tongues was great.

[amywalsh]

Ephesians 1:13
"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit".

[stevendonohoe]

Love your teaching Mike, I was one of those that received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with tounges a couple of months after salvation. Then months later after having prayed & fasted for 14 days had an encounter with God that gave me a unique gift of the spirit to serve the body of Christ. So from my experience there were multiple encounters or fillings of the spirit.

[agnesr.]

Short testimony: My father is a baptist, my mother identifies as pentecostal. They both strongly believe, their marriage was initiated by God in the first place. My mothers father used to be a home church pastor, they had experienced a lot of signs and wonders at home (supernatural protection, provision and deliverence in their own home and stuff like that, I still love to hear those testimonies from my mother).

My grandfather used to question the salvation of my father very harshly because my father didn't pray and speak in tounges. Later, my grandfather got caught in adultery, his marriage broke into pieces. He used to have a very quick temper and has not been repentant at all all those years unfortunately...

My father got offended so heavily that he refused to go to a pentacostal church from that point on. God spoke to my mother to humble herself under the spiritual leadership of my father although it was obviously flawed due to the offense my father had towards my grandfather. In the baptist Church they went to from that time on, they told my mother to "repent" from her "false" practice of her beliefs so that they could accept her into fellowship. My mother refused for she had a deep revelation about the power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Other leaders told her to leave that surrounding and look for a place where she could get proper spiritual teaching (to be honest, the baptist Church very successfully avoided every topic concerning the Holy Spirit).

So, I didn't really get this whole thing until I was in my teens. When I started to wonder why my mother had such authority in prayer and in what she spoke... Usually, I wouldn't hear her pray in tounges at all in family prayer times. And after I got saved in that baptist Church, I started to hunger for more revelation about the power of God and his supernatural nature - I wanted the power in prayer that I witnessed my mother had.

I started to notice that my father didn't pray and live in too much power of God, to be honest. But also, I recognized that it was the humility and the spiritual support of my mother that kept their marriage going. All of my six siblings later left that baptist Church and almost all of us ended up in a pentecostal Church. Finally, God moved the heart of my father to leave that religious Church as well to help my mother get in a spiritual healthy surrounding.

Still, my father isn't too open about the gifts of the Spirit, they both visit an evangelical Church and they minister together through music. It is still the prayers of my mother (and her praying a loooot in tounges/in the Spirit) that keeps my family running.

I myself got baptized in the Spirit half a year after getting born again and another three months when I started to pray in tounges. Honestly, Jesus saving me through an open vision (that was totally unusual in that baptist Church) and filling me *seperately* with the Holy Spirit and with power, those two experiences were the most powerful and impactful experiences in my life. And they keep my running.

Praying in tounges and ministering to others through interpretation - these and other gifts of the Spirit make my walk with Jesus so exciting. Wouldn't trade that for anything. Jesus is Lord! <3

[danielbutts]

It's heartbreaking begging for years to God for an experience that others insist you MUST have. Part of you dies inside. I imagine there are many that have gone through this. I could go on, but it's too depressing.

[scottbachmann]

As a Pentecostal preacher's kid, I struggled with this all my life. Until at age 56 it happened for me, at home alone, worshiping at the piano. I finally received my prayer language and had an experience with God that night that I can't explain. I'm not going to make any hard and fast rules for others...but it happened for me, although I certainly took the scenic route.

[donovangray]

Thank you for this, Mike. I have agonized over this for a long time and have come to much the same understanding — it’s so encouraging to hear it from someone I so greatly respect.

[commoveo]

Dearest Mike, thanks for answering so many questions I’ve had for years. 50 plus years ha, brought me so much peace in my heart ❤️. Sincerely grateful, Howard

[ElizabethHernandez-epkn]

THANK YOU!! I've been asking this question for the past month due to an experience I had when I first got saved. Idk why I'm asking now, but I couldn't get past it and this makes the most sense that I've heard. God is good!! 😭☝️🙏🤗✝️

[djgowski]

Thank you for doing a video on this topic! Extremely timely. My husband and I are seeking clarity and discernment as we are trying to develop a more biblical understanding of spiritual gifts. Always appreciate your videos!

[joeyladnier]

So glad you hit this topic Mike. I've been looking for clarity on this specific issue for a while now and very greatful to have your input from a Biblical point of view!

[Dearlybeloved]

For each person it might feel differently. All I have to say, is when you receive the Spirit, you KNOW. There is no question….

[judithoden]

I often cry when I pray. I feel like the Holy Spirt just feels me up. Sometimes I I get embarrassed when this happens. Some people truly understand and others get concerned thinking I am upset. Love the spirt and know how much God loves me. So happy to be a child of God.❤️🌻

[guitfiddleblue]

As someone who came out of the charismatic movement, I find this to be an informative and well thought out video. Thanks! And God bless!

[theencouragingwordministry]

I became a believer 10 years ago and about 5 years ago I started wondering about Holy Spirit. The two churches I attended in the first 5 years I was born again didn't really mention Holy Spirit but the Lord was really drawing me to seek out and learn more about Holy Spirit. I knew about the father and Jesus, but not about Holy Spirit. I prayed and asked God to help lead me to truth of Holy Spirit and to fully understand who He is. I just was so hungry for Him and I feel that God honored my desires by leading me to a teaching on the Holy Spirit by Paster Robert Morris of Gateway church called the God I never knew. I really enjoyed learning about Holy Spirit and as I learned it was all backed up biblically as I studied. I asked God for more of Him and that I wanted all of Him whatever that looks like or whatever you wanna call it. I knew I already had salvation and Holy Spirit living inside me but I wanted the full meal deal and I just knew that God had more for me. The Holy Spirit gave me more of himself and in time with faith and submission unto God I did recieve the baptism of the Holy Spirit or a filling up of more of him. It didn't have anything to do with emotions but just pure simple faith and trust in God giving me all he had for me. I want all of God and what He wants to supply me with and if thats more empowerment to walk out my Christian life with Him, then I am totally open to Him. It was in God's perfect timing that I became hungry to learn more of His Spirit. At that time I had a girlfriend who had recieved her prayer language but she really struggled with praying outloud with people. I felt the Holy Spirit urge me to ask her to pray for me to recieve more of Holy Spirit in my life and lay hands on me while we were at work. She was very nervous but faithfully did and I did recieve more of the Holy Spirit specifically I did pray in an unknown language but only a few words. I was so full of joy to feel the Holy Spirit overflowing out of me and as I yielded more of my life and faith to Him I have received other gifts through the last 5 years like words of wisdom, prophetic words, words of knowledge, discerning of Spirits, and I have grown in my prayer language with Holy Spirit. I have never given a public tongue or interpreted a tongue yet but I simply thank God for using me and let Him know that I'm His vessel and I'm open for all He has for me. At the end of the day I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus and I'm asking to be continually filled with His precious Spirit so that I can be and do all He is calling and equipping me to be and do!! The Holy Spirit is not spooky or forceful. He is a gentleman and he will never make you do anything you are uncomfortable with. You are always in control because you have a free will. Holy Spirit is full of power and might but never just takes over you.
He will never make you look weird because he is not weird. All the times I've been blessed by Him using me by providing me with His gifts, it is always for someone else's benefit although I get totally blessed by having yielded myself to be used.
Also Holy Spirit dispenses His gifts and we don't just demand. If He does not give you tongues then He will give you some other gift..but its for building up the church. Anyway just ask God to reveal Holy Spirit to you and lead and guide you into all truth. God has so much for His children so try not to be so legalistic about it.