I only live for one thing; I only live to see the Glory of God. I’m not going to die, nor will I grow old and weak, because I live in the Glory of God. I live in the Power of God. I learnt many years ago not to live in my own strength, but to live in the strength and Power of God. I believe in miracles. I see a lot of miracles. I preach miracles. Why? Because the Bible is a Book of miracles. What is impossible to us, is possible with God. Amen! My hearts cry is the same as Moses, ‘Lord, show me Your glory’ (Exodus 33:18).
O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. (Psalm 63:1-2, NKJV)
We need the Holy Spirit! The reason I first received the Holy Spirit was because I knew I had to preach the Gospel - with lives changed, souls saved into the Kingdom! I found Christ when I was 8, was baptised in water aged 12. The first time I spoke in my church I was only 13. I advertised, the people came; I preached, but nobody repented! I was shocked because I had grown up with some of the greatest evangelists; I had seen souls saved every time they preached. I went home and asked my father, who was a great preacher, one of the founders of the Pentecostal movement in Great Britain, what was wrong? I had preached the same Gospel - from the Bible like my father - but nobody repented. My father said, “Because you have not yet received the Holy Spirit!” That night he laid his hands on me and prayed that I would receive the Spirit - but I did not receive - no Fire, no Power! But from that moment I had only one desire, to meet with God and to receive His Power in my life.
For 3 months I prayed without receiving. But I knew that without the Power, the Fire, the Anointing of God, I could never see men’s lives converted. At Easter we used to have three Pentecostal Conventions in London. I determined to go and not leave until I had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit! The preached was so long in the morning, there was no time to pray for people to receive the Holy Spirit! As a 13-year old I went up to those great men of God on the platform and said, “I only came to receive the Fire, pray for me!” They took me to a small room, laid their hands on me, but their minds were on their lunch! I did not receive the Holy Spirit.
I was searching for something which does not come from men, the real Power of God. One of those pastors saw my heart, opened the Scripture to me, then when he prayed and laid hands on me, it was as if the roof came off the building, I saw the Glory of God and felt the Fire! The Fire of the Holy Ghost, the Power of God and the Glory of God came into my life! Now I had to become an evangelist! I had to preach Christ, and see the Power! That baptism was only the beginning!
If you want to be effective in ministry, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit! There is a danger today that we do not understand the reality of what the baptism in the Holy Spirit means. It is a revolutionary, life-transforming, encounter with God. It is the Power which enables us to be effective witnesses of the Gospel.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2: 1-4, NIV)
‘Your Anointing’ used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com