"Where Do We Stand?

There are disciples of Christ who know little or nothing about the conscious indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

It is vitally important that we understand this statement. The more fully we understand its truth, the better we will understand the condition of the modern Church and be able to discover where we really stand.

The condition I am referring to becomes clear when we consider what happened at Samaria. Philip the evangelist had preached there and many were led to belief in Jesus and baptized into His name. And there was great joy in the city. When the apostles heard this news, they sent down Peter and John who then prayed that these new converts would receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8.16-17). This gift was different from the working of the Spirit that led them to conversion, faith and joy in Jesus as Savior. It was something higher, because now the Holy Spirit was imparted by Jesus in heaven to dwell in, consecrate, and fill their hearts and lives!

If this new experience had not been given, the Samaritan disciples would have still been Christians, but they would have remained weak and incomplete. But now in our own days, there are still many weak Christians who know nothing of the gift of the Holy Spirit. While their lives can display much that is good and admirable, the life of such Christians is still hampered by weakness, stumbling and disappointment because they have never been brought into vitalizing contact with the power of the Holy Spirit. Such poor souls have not received the Holy Spirit as the Pentecostal gift to be possessed, kept, and filled by Him.