The theme for Open Heaven Daily Devotional September 9 2023 is The Works Of Grace IV.
SCRIPTURE: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth“. Acts 1:8
As we continue with our study of the works of grace, we will consider the baptism of the Holy Spirit today. After God has enabled you to do His will voluntarily without being forced,
He will then baptise you in His Spirit. When we were younger Christians, we were told, “You must be sanctified before you begin to ask for baptism in the Holy Spirit”.
The Holy Ghost baptism is very dangerous, so much so that it can even destroy a person. In those days, people gave offerings voluntarily – nobody needed to preach to you.
We were willing to spend and be spent for the One who saved us; He had given us a new heart – a heart of flesh. In those days, you couldn’t become a worker in the church until you were sanctified because workers willingly surrendered their time and resources to God.
After you have become sanctified, God can then trust you with His Holy Spirit and power. The Holy Spirit cannot live in a heart that is still stubborn, unruly and disobedient.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit comes with power (Acts 1:8) and thus, you need to be sanctified before that can happen. Beloved, the Holy Spirit is like a bomb. Nobody will give a bomb to someone who is not broken.
When you join the army, they take you through a series of training programmes and by the time they are finished with you, you would almost be like a zombie.
You would begin to do everything they ask of you without questions. When you become a Christian, you have joined the army of the Lord and until you are thoroughly broken,
He won’t give you His power. Don’t mind those who pretend to be operating in the power of God while their behaviours are not portraying Christ; Simon the sorcerer could also perform some magic.
If you want the true power of God, you must be sanctified first. Carnality must be gone from your life, so that He can release His power to you. When the baptism in the Holy Ghost happens,
one of the primary evidences will be speaking in tongues. No one will have to tell you what to say. The day I was baptised in the Holy Spirit,
it was the Lord Himself who drove my car home because I wasn’t in this world; all I knew was that had no control over my tongue. That kind of true power is available for you,
provided you are sanctified. After receiving this power, you then become a witness to Him as He said in Acts 1:8.
Open Heaven For Today 9 September 2023: Prayer Point
If you are sanctified but not yet baptised in the Holy Spirit, go ahead and ask God to baptise you now.