Vivid Christianity
Teaching Christians how to live a "vivid" Christian life.


How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit - Part Two of Two

Part One


by Dave Root, VividChristianity.com, last modified on 03/02/2024.


Introduction

In Part One we saw that we must choose to receive the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in obedience to God (after we automatically receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation) because it empowers us by providing certain gifts of the Spirit for the assignments that God needs us to do. In addition, it enables us to discern God's guidance within us (see my article called How to Discern God's Guidance). We also saw that the ability to speak in tongues is the scriptural evidence that a person has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and we saw the high degree of importance that this baptism has in the New Testament.

In Part Two we'll examine how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.


What Is Speaking in Tongues?

My article called Praying in the Spirit Means Speaking in Tongues explains that there are two forms of speaking in tongues in the New Testament:

  1. A person delivers a public message in tongues from God to a church congregation or other group, which is then interpreted through the Holy Spirit either by the speaker or by someone else in the group. The Bible refers to this as the spiritual gift of tongues, and it's used in combination with the spiritual gift of interpretation. People sometimes refer to this as the "public" use of tongues.

  2. A person prays in the Spirit (in tongues) to God, which does not need to be interpreted into the local language because God always understands what the Holy Spirit is saying. The Bible refers to this with expressions such as "pray in a tongue" (1 Corinthians 14:14), "pray with my spirit" (1 Corinthians 14:15), "pray in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18), and "praying in the Holy Spirit" (Jude 1:20). People sometimes refer to this as the "private" use of tongues or a "prayer language."


After a Christian chooses to receive the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in obedience to God then he or she might or might not have the gift of tongues (#1 above), but he or she will be able to pray in tongues (#2 above). Since we're commanded to pray in the Spirit (see my article above), this means that every Christian should be praying in tongues every day in obedience to God.

So there are two purposes for tongues in the New Testament, which is something that many Christians don't seem to realize. One form of tongues is for delivering a message from God to a group of people (which must then be interpreted into the local language using the spiritual gift of interpretation), and the other form of tongues is for speaking to God (praying to Him in tongues). Each form of tongues has a different purpose and a different audience, and there's no form of tongues for communicating with foreigners in their native languages. There's not a shred of scriptural evidence that speaking in tongues is for communicating with foreigners, and there's not a single example in the entire New Testament of anyone speaking in tongues in order to communicate with foreigners (see my article above).

When you pray in the Spirit (i.e., pray in tongues), the words will come from your spirit, not from your mind. Many people find that their analytical mind gets in the way and prevents them from speaking in tongues, so here are some ideas that might be helpful:

  1. Don't expect the Holy Spirit to move your mouth or force you to speak in tongues because the Bible says that on the day of Pentecost the disciples spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them the words to say ("gave them utterance" - Acts 2:4 NKJV). When you speak in tongues, you must make the sounds even though you don't know what those sounds will be.

    This is why the apostle Paul said that he prayed with his spirit and he also prayed with his mind:

    "I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind." (1 Corinthians 14:15)
    The Amplified Version of the Bible (AMP) provides nuances and shades of meaning from the original Hebrew and Greek (in parentheses and square brackets) to help us better understand the intended meaning of Scripture passages. Notice that when Paul prayed with his spirit (i.e., when he prayed in tongues), he was not using his mind. His mind was unproductive and unfruitful because it wasn't giving him the words to say:
    "For if I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind is unproductive - bears no fruit and helps nobody." (1 Corinthians 14:14 AMP)
    So when we speak in tongues we're not using our minds (this bypasses our minds), and it's often difficult at first for people to get their minds out of the way so that they can pray in tongues. Later I'll offer some suggestions that might help you get your mind out of the way.

  2. When you speak in tongues, it will probably sound different from other people when they speak in tongues. It's up to the Holy Spirit to decide what language to use, so just relax and trust Him. For example, I heard about a lady who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and when she spoke in tongues she was surprised to find that she made a lot of clicking sounds with her tongue. On TV one day she saw a person from an African tribe whose native language used a lot of clicking sounds, exactly the way that this lady prayed in tongues (for example, see this YouTube video of the Xhosa 'click' language Offsite Link).

  3. When you begin speaking in tongues, here are a couple of things that you might find yourself thinking:

    • "That was just me making those sounds."

      Remember, it's supposed to be you making those sounds. You must step out in faith and make the sounds yourself, trusting that the Holy Spirit is giving you the words that He wants you to speak.

    • "I don't feel any power."

      In Part One we saw that we receive power when we receive the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit because we're told that we'll be "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49) and we'll "receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you" (Acts 1:8). However, this doesn't mean that we'll feel anything. We need to trust what God's Word says, not what our feelings say.


How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

After God gives you certain spiritual gifts (by receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit), He wants you to do something with them.

Notice that Jesus is the Head and each Christian is a part of His physical body on earth. Just as your head constantly tells different parts of your body what to do, where to go, and what to say, our Head (Jesus) constantly tells different parts of His physical body what to do, where to go, and what to say. Each part of Christ's physical body (each Christian) needs to be listening to and obeying our Head because if we're not listening to Him then we're not fully obeying Him (think about it for a moment), and we'll be disciplined (perhaps severely) (see section #11 in my article called Cheat Sheet):
"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." (Romans 12:4-5)

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body - whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"" (1 Corinthians 12:12-21)

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:27-31)

"And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." (Ephesians 1:22-23)

"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:15-16)

"For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:23-24)

"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." (Colossians 1:18)

"Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church." (Colossians 1:24)
The above passages say that God has placed the parts of the body of Christ (i.e., all Christians) just as He wanted them to be, and He'll give us the appropriate spiritual gifts. God has assigned a specific role for you, and He wants you to fulfill your role in order for the body of Christ to function properly. As we saw in Part One, receiving the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit provides you with the spiritual empowerment you need for carrying out the assignments that God needs you to do.


Now let's examine what the Bible says about how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

First of all, if you're not sure that you're saved and going to heaven then please read my article called How to Receive Salvation. As that article explains, the word "Christian" means "follower of Christ," so if you're a Christian then it's important that you follow Him by being obedient to His will and His individual plan for your life, otherwise your faith is a dead faith (see section #01 in my article called Cheat Sheet).

As a Christian, you have the right to ask your heavenly Father for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit:
"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!" (Luke 11:13)

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Galatians 3:13-14)
In Part One we saw that at the moment we receive salvation, the Holy Spirit automatically comes to live in our hearts, which pastors and Bible teachers refer to as the "indwelling" Holy Spirit. But notice what Luke 11:13 (above) and Galatians 3:13-14 (above) say about how to receive the promised gift of the Holy Spirit: We need to ask for it and receive it by faith. Remember, we don't receive salvation by asking for the Holy Spirit, so Luke 11:13 (above) is not talking about receiving salvation or the indwelling Holy Spirit. The above two passages are talking about receiving the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that was promised to us (Luke 24:46-51, Acts 1:4-5, 2:14-18, 32-39).

If you're ready to receive the promised gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, first try an experiment: Try to speak several sentences fluently in gibberish. It probably won't be easy for you to speak nothing but nonsense syllables, but if you do babble something out then notice how it sounds. After you begin praying in tongues, you'll see that it sounds different from your conscious attempt at speaking gibberish.

To receive the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, say or whisper this prayer and believe that you received it even if you don't feel anything or notice anything different at first:
"Lord Jesus, You said in Luke 11:13 that as a child of God I can ask for the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I'm asking You to baptize me in the Holy Spirit, and I receive it by faith. Thank You, Lord!"
We saw in Part One that the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to open the communication between our spirits and the Holy Spirit within us, so the next step is to begin speaking in tongues in order to open up that communication.


How to Speak in Tongues

The ability to speak in tongues is the outward evidence in Scripture that we have received the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as we saw in Part One.

Now let's take a look at some things that the Bible says about speaking in tongues.

First, notice that the Bible tells us to offer the parts of our bodies to God as "living sacrifices" and "instruments of righteousness," as a "spiritual act of worship":
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)

"Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." (Romans 6:13)
So the Bible tells us to offer the parts of our bodies to God (meaning that we need to be fully obedient to Him), but the Bible also says that there's one specific part of our bodies that we cannot tame:
"Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." (James 3:5-8)
Since the Bible says that we cannot tame our tongues, it's the one member of our bodies that we're incapable of fully offering to God as an instrument of righteousness. It's the Holy Spirit Himself who uses our tongues for righteousness when He utters mysteries directly to God through our mouths:
"For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit." (1 Corinthians 14:2)
When we've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, this event is confirmed outwardly when we allow the Holy Spirit to pray directly to the Father using our tongues:
"For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind." (1 Corinthians 14:14-15)
In the above passage, the apostle Paul said that when we pray in tongues, it's our spirits that are praying. In other words, the Holy Spirit is providing the words to our spirits and we speak them out of our mouths. This bypasses our minds, which is why Paul said that his mind was unfruitful when he prayed with his spirit.

So one type of praying (our normal way of praying) is done with our minds, but there's a different type of praying that's done with our spirits. In the above passage, Paul specifically said that the way he prayed with his spirit was by praying in tongues (by the Holy Spirit). "Praying in tongues" and "praying with my spirit" and "praying in the Spirit" are simply different ways of saying the same thing (see my article called Praying in the Spirit Means Speaking in Tongues).


In order to begin speaking in tongues for the first time, it's helpful to praise God for a few moments in your normal language so that your mind and heart are in an attitude of praise. For example, try speaking or whispering Psalm 150:1-2 out loud, becoming more forceful until you're really feeling it:
Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Now, in that same frame of mind, keep speaking out the above Psalm but allow other syllables to "slip out." Trust that as you do your part then the Holy Spirit will do His part, something like this:
Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sala lambranda boro;
praise him in his anda boro bohsso.
Be diligent and keep working on it, but don't worry if you're not able to speak in tongues right away. When you try to say things that make no sense to you, it feels strange at first. Since you don't know what you're supposed to say, your mind wants to take over and analyze what you're trying to say, and this quenches the whole thing.

Remember, Paul said that his mind was unfruitful when he prayed with his spirit. His mind wasn't doing anything. This is the hard part for most of us, because it's not easy to get our minds out of the way. With practice, you'll be able to pray in tongues anytime and anywhere because your mind won't be analyzing it and quenching the process.

Here are some suggestions that have helped people get their analytical minds out of the way and begin speaking in tongues after they received the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit:

  • Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit will not move your mouth for you and speak for you. You must make the sounds, even though you have no idea what sounds to make, and even though they will sound like gibberish to you (because you're speaking a language that you never learned).

  • Don't expect any particular feeling or euphoria to come over you when you speak in tongues. You're simply speaking another language, and you can speak quietly in a monotone or you can speak loudly with lots of emotion, it's entirely up to you. You can also sing the words (1 Corinthians 14:14-15, above).

  • When toddlers are learning to speak, some of the sounds that they make are actual words and some are just gibberish. As they practice more and more, they become more and more fluent. Speaking in tongues works the same way, in the sense that as we speak in tongues more and more, we become better at yielding our tongues to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we might speak gibberish and not know it, but that's okay, just as it's okay when toddlers speak gibberish as they're learning. Sometimes we might butcher the pronunciation of whatever language we're speaking in tongues, but that's okay because we don't even know what the language is that we're speaking. When we decide to stop speaking in tongues, it's okay if we stop speaking in the middle of a.

  • After I spoke in tongues for the first time, I still struggled with it for awhile because my mind kept quenching the whole thing by trying to analyze the words that I was saying. I found that if I simply took a deep breath and let it out slowly through my mouth as a whisper ("aaaa...") then it was easy to let some syllables slip out as I exhaled:

    "aaaa...sa shora ba"
    "aaaa...la rosa te mehene"
    "aaaa...koro ba lamba"
    That's what speaking in tongues is, it's letting syllables slip out without knowing in advance what they will be. I did this for a few days, and then I no longer needed to use this method because the words in tongues were coming out of my mouth more easily.

    The "aaaa..." is not a word, it's just a way to indicate that air is coming out of my mouth, which is necessary in order to speak. Remember, you must make the sounds of speech; it's not the Holy Spirit making the sounds. The words come from the Holy Spirit but they must be spoken by you, which means that you must begin the process of speaking before you know what you're going to say. This requires a lot of faith, which pleases God (e.g., Hebrews 11:6). Therefore, my suggestion of taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly is intended to help you begin the process of speaking so that the Spirit's words can slip out of your mouth.

  • Another idea that I found helpful was to speak just two or three syllables at a time rather than trying to speak in fluent sentences, such as:

    "wa-tu...wo-te...si-fu...mun-gu"


I hope that these suggestions are helpful, but there are also plenty of resources online, as well as pastors and leaders in charismatic churches who will be happy to help you work through whatever blocks you might be experiencing.

When people received the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues in the New Testament, did they have difficulty at first getting their minds out of the way? We just don't know. On the surface, it's easy to assume that they all automatically spoke in tongues, as if they couldn't help it. But we're not given a detailed account of what happened in each case, so we have no idea what Paul taught the disciples in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-6) or what Peter and John taught the Samaritans (Acts 8:14-20) before they spoke in tongues, for example.

In Part One we saw that Hebrews 6:1-2 says that one of the elementary and foundational teachings that Christians received was "instruction about baptisms" (plural), and we saw that water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are the only Christian baptisms (plural) in the New Testament. Therefore, first-century Christians needed instruction about water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It's certainly possible that many first-century Christians had difficulty at first when they tried to pray in tongues just as many Christians today have difficulty at first, which is why people need instruction about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.


How to Have Confidence That You're Actually Praying in Tongues

The New Testament doesn't provide us with any test that will confirm or validate or verify that we are speaking in tongues by the Holy Spirit. We must take it on faith that we're properly praying in the Spirit.

However, here are some ways to have confidence that you're actually praying in tongues by the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes you'll hear Christians say that certain people who are active in the occult or other forms of spiritism are able to speak in tongues. But whether this is true or not, it has no bearing on Christians speaking in tongues (see section #24 in my article called Cheat Sheet) because it's perfectly scriptural for us to speak in tongues following the guidelines provided in the New Testament (see my article called Praying in the Spirit Means Speaking in Tongues). Recall that earlier we saw that no one can tame their own tongue (James 3:5-8, above), and I said that before you try to pray in tongues it's helpful to first get into an attitude of praising God, such as speaking or whispering Psalm 150:1-2 out loud. So when you've asked the Lord to baptize you in the Holy Spirit, and you have an attitude of praising God, and you're speaking strange-sounding syllables out of your mouth, you can have confidence that the words are from the Holy Spirit and not from any demonic source.

It's natural to wonder if the strange words are just coming from you, but notice how different they sound compared to your experiment at speaking gibberish (which I described in a previous section). This is one way that you can have confidence that the Holy Spirit is using ("taming") your tongue.

As we'll see in the next section, now that you've received the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit you can begin discerning God's guidance within you. This enables you to get answers directly from God, and when you reach the point where you're able to trust that you're hearing from Him then you can ask Him if you're properly praying in tongues. This is another way that you can have confidence that the Holy Spirit is using ("taming") your tongue.

I've heard first-hand reports of people demonstrating what it sounds like when they speak in tongues, and someone in the audience knew that particular language and was able to provide the translation. So if this happens to you then it would be another confirmation that you're properly speaking in tongues.

There's really no objective way to be certain that someone else is truly speaking in tongues by the Holy Spirit, but does it matter? If they're speaking a message from God in tongues to an audience such as your church congregation, then the only reason it would matter to you whether or not they're truly speaking in tongues by the Holy Spirit is if someone speaks out the interpretation from the Holy Spirit (this is explained in my article called Praying in the Spirit Means Speaking in Tongues). If you hear people praying to God in tongues, they're not talking to you so there's no reason for it to matter to you whether or not they're truly praying in tongues by the Holy Spirit.


Conclusion

When we try to be thorough, objective, and unbiased and look for the full picture in the New Testament concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's clear that we must choose to receive this gift in obedience to God (after we automatically receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation) because it empowers us by providing certain gifts of the Spirit for the assignments that God needs us to do. Then we're able to pray in the Spirit (i.e., pray in tongues) in obedience to Ephesians 6:18 and Jude 1:20.

Praying in tongues (even for just a few moments) several times a day enables us to be open to the filling of the Spirit (see section #08 in my article called Cheat Sheet), enables us to discern God's guidance within us (see my article called How to Discern God's Guidance), and enables the Holy Spirit to work through us (see chapter 5 in the free PDF of my book called "Divine Healing Absolutely Is for Today").

Two common problems that prevent people from being able to pray in the Spirit are:

  1. Misunderstandings about how speaking in tongues works.

  2. The natural mind getting in the way. Speaking in tongues bypasses the natural mind, and this can be difficult for people at first.


Pray in the Spirit often, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to the Father through you:
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." (Ephesians 6:18)

"But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit." (Jude 1:20)


Back to Part One.


For the glory of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh, was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification.

Dave Root
home page and email: https://www.vividchristianity.com

"Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3)

"Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist - denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:22-23)

"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God." (1 John 4:15)

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." (1 John 4:1-3)

"And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist." (2 John 1:6-7)

"He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:25)
 
 
Modification History

  • 03/02/2024 - Added Galatians 3:13-14 in the section called "How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit."

  • 03/18/2023 - Added a link to my article called "Cheat Sheet" in the section called "How to Have Confidence That You're Actually Praying in Tongues."

  • 12/04/2022 - Added a paragraph at the end of the section called "How to Speak in Tongues."

  • 10/02/2022 - Modified the section called "What Is Speaking in Tongues?" Added a bullet point at the end of the section called "How to Speak in Tongues."

  • 08/29/2022 - Modified the section called "What Is Speaking in Tongues?"

  • 08/02/2022 - Modified the section called "How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit."

  • 07/23/2022 - Modified my closing statement.

  • 03/24/2022 - Modified the description of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Introduction section.

  • 11/03/2021 - Made the font size a bit bigger and added a fish symbol as a favicon (which is displayed in the browser tab).

  • 10/29/2021 - Made some changes in every section. Added a new section called "How to Have Confidence that You're Actually Praying in Tongues."

  • 08/12/2021 - Modified the Introduction. Modified the section called "How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit." Modified the section called "How to Speak in Tongues." Modified the Conclusion.

  • 02/27/2019 - Re-wrote most of this series.