Topic: The Holy Spirit Is With Us

Acts 8:15-25 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." Then Simon answered, "Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me." When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. (NIV) The infilling of the Holy Spirit can be brought about by prayer along with other conditions inside the person seeking the experience of the Holy Spirit. However, there is a basic problem with seeking the Holy Spirit only for you. You may have a difficulty in finding the Holy Spirit only for yourself because to seek the Holy Spirit only for yourself runs the risk of seeking the Spirit for a selfish reason or reasons. We can seek the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon others while leaving our personal wants and needs aside. We can seek the Holy Spirit for others because we love them and for this reason our request for others may be, in the sight of God, a valid reason for us to receive the Spirit. However, we must never ask to receive the Holy Spirit, if in our request, there is even a shred of selfish motive. God does not smile upon a selfish request. To receive the Holy Spirit one must be totally unselfish and be willing to experience the baptism or cleansing produced by the Holy Sprit as a result of believing in the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is an entity to be received or taken in. The Holy Spirit cannot be bought with money, acquired by works, gained by acting right, acquired by doing handstands, or possessed as a result of any kind of human performance. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God.

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These words were posted at one of Shepherd's Care Ministries Sites called Wisdom Minute, The site is located at:
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