Acts 1:4-5 – the beginning of a devotion series

4 While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” [He said, “is what] you heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

You can do nothing to receive the gift of the Spirit. Only believe and God will send himself to you. Paul talks about the Spirit being a seal, a deposit, a guarantee of God’s hold on your life and his promise to take you to be with him one day. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives from God, who gives Himself to us freely, so that we may know that what has been promised in the future will surely come to pass for that which has been promised in the present has come. This is a free gift to you.

When you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior the Holy Spirit comes into your life. When the Spirit comes into your life he comes to submerge you into the presence of God.

The picture that Jesus uses is of baptism and specifically the baptism of John. Baptism is a word which denote total submersion, immersion under the water. Everytime it is used in scripture the word translated baptism means a person or object being placed under water. This is the picture that Jesus uses to describe what happens when you are given the Holy Spirit. He says that the disciples, and those following, will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. That is, they will be submerged in the Holy Spirit. I think that the picture here is important. We should not think that when we become Christians we receive some of God and that as we grow we get more of God. When you get God you get all of Him. He gives himself totally to you. Now you do grow in your walk with Him, becoming more aware of His presence and His work in your life, but he does not come to you in stages. God gives of Himself to you totally.