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    The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit
    The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit
    The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit
    Ebook172 pages3 hours

    The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit

    By Quin Sherrer and Ruthanne Garlock

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    About this ebook

    Who is the Holy Spirit? How can believers experience God's presence? How does God work in, with, and through His followers? Many Christians have very basic questions about the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. In The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit, they will find answers to their questions and learn how to access the power and presence of God promised to all His children. Readers will discover who the Holy Spirit is and find out how He will enable them to live the abundant life Jesus promised. Plus, once they receive the Spirit, they'll learn how to maintain a relationship with Him through a lifetime of spiritual vitality!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBaker Publishing Group
    Release dateOct 6, 2011
    ISBN9781441268693
    The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit

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    • 3/5
      "We know that He is the third Person of the Trinity. He is the Comforter and our Advocate. He convicts us of sin; gives hope, joy and freedom; and He seals our inheritance in Christ. He strengthens and encourages, speaks and guides and He empowers us to witness of Jesus' redeeming grace. He brings revelation, gives spiritual gifts and loves through us with God's love when our human love falls short. He helps us worship, shows us how to pray, prays through us and enables us to speak in tongues we have not learned." (Quin Sherrer & Ruthanne Garlock, "The Beginner's Guide to Receiving The Holy Spirit")

      I believe that this book fell way short of what the title and sub-titles of this book indicate. The title of this book is The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit and the subtitles are: Discover the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Personally Encounter God's Spirit Daily, and Live the Abundant Life Jesus Promises. I do not recall instructions in this book of how to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter said, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (See Acts 2:38); Jesus said all we need to do to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit is to ask our Heavenly Father for Him (See Luke 11:13). In respect to the subtitles, not much is expounded upon for discovering your spiritual gifts, only that the Holy Spirit gives these gifts, which I agree with, but little is mentioned in how the gifts of the Spirit are distributed by the Holy Spirit, as He wills, through the laying on of hands, or by us praying for them. Finally, the final two subtitles, I think they did a fair job and included testimonies of those who prayed in tongues and God led them to do certain acts that were life changing.

      That is where this book falls apart. If I were to label this book, I would have labelled it, "Tongues - The Initial Evidence of Being Baptized in the Spirit." The authors state, "The major distinction between Pentecostal and charismatic doctrine is this: The former holds that speaking in tongues is the essential proof (or "initial evidence") that one has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Charismatic groups, on the other hand, believe that speaking in tongues is an evidence that may or may not immediately follow one's being baptized in the Holy Spirit." I believe the authors hold to the Pentecostal view. I personally, do not agree with any of these views. I believe the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the evidence of being filled with the Spirit. As Jesus said, "you will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16) and we know what those fruits are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (See Galatians 5:22).

      I felt the authors were a bit dogmatic in their views and over and over to the point of grieving my spirit, they were making an effort to prove their point that tongues was the initial evidence of being filled with the Spirit. I have the gift of speaking and tongues, so I am not against tongues, and I have even prayed and interpreted tongues, so I am not against tongues, but I have come to the conclusion that the fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of being filled with the Spirit. Also, if you hold to the view that tongues is the evidence of being filled with the Spirit, then you must hold to the view that prophesying is also evidence of being filled with the Spirit, as the book of Acts says, "the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in other tongues, and prophesied." Can a person filled with the Spirit speak in tongues? Yes. But sorry, I do not hold to the view that it is an initial evidence. My view is the fruit of the Spirit is the evidence. Paul said, "Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?" (See 1 Corinthians 12:30). The answer is an unequivocal "NO". Therefore, all believers do not have this gift, and therefore, some believers can be filled with the Holy Spirit without having this gift. That's my view after having read through the Bible from front to back many times and having read many books from different viewpoints on the Person and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

    Book preview

    The Beginner's Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit - Quin Sherrer

    Spirit.

    I was thrilled to be attending the wedding of Nan and Joe in a stone chapel overlooking the breathtaking snow-capped Colorado mountains near Vail. The ceremony was an answer to the prayers our family had prayed for Nan, now in her late thirties, who had waited many years for a Christian husband.

    As they exchanged vows, my thoughts drifted back to a night eight years earlier when Nan had been a guest in our home. One Wednesday night she went with us to a service at our small interdenominational church. Since she’d been raised in a strict denominational setting, our style of worship seemed a bit strange to her, then our pastor taught about receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

    Later, as we sat around our dining table that night, snacking, she plied us with questions:

    Wasn’t I filled with the Holy Spirit when I accepted Christ as a child?

    Why do I need another experience?

    What will the Holy Spirit do for me—will I know God better?

    Do I have to speak in tongues?

    On and on the questions went. I answered as best I could while encouraging her to continue the seeking process she had begun. Nan began attending our church regularly, no longer considering our services strange. Many times, I saw her face light up with the joy of the Lord as we sang praises to Him. I don’t know whether she ever prayed to receive the Holy Spirit, but she did become comfortable worshipping with Spirit-filled people. At her wedding, at the request of the bride and groom, the minister invited anyone present who did not know Jesus personally to accept Him right then and there.

    In the years that followed, as I tried to explain to many other Nans the benefits of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I dreamed of writing a book for beginners on this topic. I even wrote out a two-page handout to give to those who asked me similar questions.

    When our friends at Servant asked Ruthanne and me to write The Beginner’s Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit, we jumped at the opportunity. I remembered my own experience, many years before, when I’d had a multitude of doubts and questions, just like Nan’s.

    We were in the middle of writing this book when, on September 11, 2001, terrorist suicide pilots destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and struck the U.S. Pentagon. The horror of the attack and the huge loss of life left Americans numb with shock. In the following days and weeks, our nation turned to God, led by our president. The Holy Spirit was present, even in the midst of the tragedy, ministering to people in all walks of life. We heard many stories of God’s protection, direction and comfort, both during the crisis and beyond.

    For instance, AnneMarie, my friend who lives in New York, had spent 20 years trying to get her neighbor to accept the Lord. She showered her with kindness, holiday gifts and backyard fence talks. On the night of September 11, with AnneMarie present, not only did this neighbor accept the Lord, but she also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit—all in the same evening!

    Just a few weeks after the attack, I was scheduled to teach a seminar on prayer at a large church on the West Coast. Before September 11, I wouldn’t have said that we were a praying church, the leader told me plainly. But now we’re open for the Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. On a Friday night—an evening when church members usually attended sports events—the place was packed with people who had come for a two-hour session on how to pray.

    Afterward, a pastor’s wife from another church asked me to pray for her to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, though she said her husband and church would not approve. I’m so hungry for more of the Lord—for the Holy Spirit to minister to me so that I will be better equipped to minister to our congregation, she said.

    Two months after my friend Hilda gave me her story for this book (see chapter 3), she lost her husband to heart disease. She is feeling the Holy Spirit’s comfort today, just as she felt His joy and love the night she knelt in her den more than 30 years ago to welcome the Holy Spirit into her life.

    In these pages, you will meet many people who have received this gift and discovered the empowerment, guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit in their everyday lives. It is our hope that you, as a seeker, will find here the biblical answers to your questions, and that you will receive the precious gift the Lord has for you.

    We pray you will develop an intimate relationship with the Third Person of the Trinity, so that as you arise each morning, you can pray, "Holy Spirit, You are welcome in my life today. Speak to me. Love through me. Come and direct my every step, my every conversation, my every decision."

    You will find that no matter what the future holds, you can rely upon the Holy Spirit to sustain and guide you in every situation.

    —Quin Sherrer

    Who Is the Holy Spirit?

    You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

    ACTS 1:8; 2:4

    Power? Holy Spirit? Tongues? Does this all sound far out to you?

    Many people shy away from these topics connected to having an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit because they feel they’re too controversial, or because they think they’re too hard to understand. Some tend to think of the Holy Spirit as a ghostly, ethereal entity not related to real life in today’s world. Yet the exact opposite is true.

    Jesus told His followers that He would not always be physically present with them, but that He would ask the Father to send another Helper, that He may abide with you forever (John 14:16, NKJV). That Helper is the Holy Spirit—the Third Person of the Trinity. The triune God consists of three Persons, or entities—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Theologian J. I. Packer explains that the three are always together and always cooperating, with the Father initiating, the Son complying, and the Spirit executing the will of both, which is his will also.¹

    When we examine the Scriptures, we find that God has much to teach us about the Holy Spirit. In this book we will explore the significance of the Holy Spirit and learn about the wonderful gift that is available to every believer. The following story is an example of a seeker who pursued such a quest for truth.

    Thirsty for More

    What is the Holy Spirit?

    That was Katy’s question to Rena, the woman with whom she’d been chatting as they waited in the food line at a church picnic, when Rena mentioned that the Lord had been speaking to her about the Holy Spirit.

    Noting Katy’s interest, Rena went on to share how she had been baptized in the Holy Spirit, had spoken in tongues and was hungry to learn more about this gift.

    I knew the ‘Holy Ghost’ was included in the Apostles’ Creed, which I recited every Sunday, and was mentioned at baptisms and in benediction prayers, Katy said, but I’d never heard a Bible lesson or sermon about the Holy Spirit. My relationship with Christ was genuine, but I was thirsty for more. I had just received my officer’s commission in the Army as a nurse and was at a hinge-point in my life.

    For five weeks, Katy sought in every way possible to learn more about the Holy Spirit. One night at a meeting of the Officers’ Christian Fellowship, she was full of questions.

    Would you like to receive the Holy Spirit? the Bible teacher asked after answering several queries.

    Yes! Katy responded eagerly, following the Bible teacher and her husband to a back room for prayer.

    They laid hands on her and prayed, then led Katy in a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to fill her to overflowing. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming sense of God’s love and peace. The experience so changed Katy’s demeanor that her colleagues noticed the difference the very next day.

    A Stream of Strength

    I was so thrilled with this marvelous peace, I decided it wasn’t really necessary for me to speak in tongues, Katy said. But the couple who had prayed for me to receive the Holy Spirit gently encouraged me to remain open to the idea. They taught me a lot about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the many ways He works in our lives, by showing me both the power and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

    Six months later, at a Christmas party, another friend prayed for Katy to receive her prayer language, and she haltingly spoke a few words. A fluency in tongues didn’t come right away, because of my resistance, she admitted. But later, when I began struggling with problems in my marriage, I began praying in tongues in my private prayer time. Gradually, it began to flow more easily. Rather than a ‘gusher’ experience such as some of my friends had told about, it seemed the Holy Spirit was ‘drip-feeding’ me with a steady stream of strength and courage on a day-to-day basis.

    Katy discovered that receiving this gift was not merely a one-time event—though her first encounter with the Holy Spirit was a spiritual milestone she will always remember. Rather, she’s learned that the Holy Spirit living within her enables her to tap into His strength, wisdom and power as she encounters life’s challenges. Today, many years later, Katy prays in tongues for all kinds of situations, but mostly when she is praying alone.

    God’s Gift for All His Children

    After His resurrection and before ascending to heaven, Jesus appeared to His followers and promised to send them the Holy Spirit: I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city [Jerusalem] until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49, NASB). In Acts 1:8 He declares that when they receive this power they shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (NASB).

    This word power—derived from the Greek word dunamis, from which we get the words dynamo and dynamite—also means ability, strength, or a person who has administrative power.² In other words, Jesus was promising that the Holy Spirit would empower and equip them to fulfill their commission to carry the gospel message to the ends of the earth (see Matt. 28:18-20). Clearly, He knew they had to have this power to undertake such a daunting task.

    Women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, were present when the 120 believers experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room (see Acts 1:14). Obviously, Jesus intended this gift for all believers, not just the 12 apostles. All of them heard a rushing, mighty wind, saw fire descend from heaven and began speaking in languages they had never learned (see Acts 2:1-4).

    The apostle Peter explained the phenomenon to the astonished crowd that gathered, then declared: The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call (Acts 2:39).

    Historians generally agree that this event marks the beginning of the Church age. Yet, many also have taught that miraculous signs recorded in Scripture, such as speaking in tongues or healing, were only for the Early Church—not for believers today. This view, called cessationism, holds that such signs are no longer necessary because we now have the written Word of God.

    Sadly, this teaching, which dictates restrictions on the work of the Holy Spirit, has caused thousands of believers to miss the blessings the Holy Spirit wants to pour into their lives. In fact, this mindset is the reason many believers, such as Katy, have grown up in churches where the Holy Spirit was rarely mentioned at all.

    Yet, history records countless instances of hungry seekers asking for the gift Jesus promised, and receiving the Holy Spirit, often with the outward sign of speaking in tongues. These believers feel they’re included in the all who are far off group mentioned in Peter’s sermon (Acts 2:39), and they have embraced the blessing.

    Reborn by the Spirit

    If you have truly been born again, it was the Holy Spirit who convicted you of sin, revealed to you the truth of the gospel and drew

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