THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER

Acts 1:4-5
4 Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (WEB)

Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise that was to come from His Father. This gift that God would soon be poured out on the day of Pentecost in the upper room was His own precious Spirit. The word 'baptized' means to be immersed, so Jesus was promising that His disciples (and all believers from then on) would be immersed in the outpouring of Holy Spirit.

In Romans 5:5, Paul the Apostle writes that God has poured His love into our hearts by the Spirit which He has given us. If God's own Spirit is the vehicle in which He continually pours His love into our hearts, then the baptism (immersion) in the Holy Spirit is truly a continual baptism into the love of God.

In Ephesians 5:18, Paul writes... Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, (WEB). The Greek meaning of the word 'filled' is not referring to a one time event, but a constant infilling. God wants us to continually be immersed in His amazing, unconditional love for us! Jesus encouraged us in Luke 11:9-13 to keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking our Father because He is the giver of good gifts to His kids.

My prayer is that each one of us would be continually filled with the overwhelming, loving presence of God's own Spirit today. May we all have faith to believe that His precious Holy Spirit is a gift that He has promised to gladly give to all who simply ask.

Luke 11:9-13
9 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (WEB)